Location: Home > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Holocaust > The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide

The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide

Author: Robert Jay Lifton
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book

List Price: ~~Ł12.99~~
Buy New: Ł6.79
You Save: Ł6.20 (48%)

New (24) Used (20) from Ł6.79

Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

5 reviews
Sales Rank: 19848

Media: Paperback
Edition: Re-issue
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 576
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1.6

ISBN: 0465049052
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5405
EAN: 9780465049059
ASIN: 0465049052

Publication Date: March 22, 1988
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days

Also Available In:

•	Hardcover - The Nazi Doctors

Similar Items:

•	Mengele: The Complete Story
•	Doctors from Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans
•	Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chamber
•	Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: Operation Reinhard Death Camps
•	Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars

Physician heal thyself April 30, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

This is a very carefully researched book which deserves to be read. It not only covers the involvement by doctors in medical killing but also investigates their psychology. For those interested in medical ethics I'm sure it would be worth reading.

The first half of this book charts the historical progression from direct medical killing of those deemed to be 'life unworthy of life' (often mental patients) through to the most complete expression found in Auschwitz. We see how the medical ideal can be twisted by subverting it to the 'higher' ideal of caring for the health of the social organism by surgically removing the 'ailing' parts.

We are presented with the complex factors involved in this process. The religious, visionary component of the 'world blessing' which the Nazi's have to offer and the purported modelling of the SS on the Jesuits. The scientific component with the interest in eugenics and the 'research' which is carried out. Rudolf Hess declared that National Socialism is 'nothing but applied biology.' And the sense in which some of it is just part of the zeitgeist. The author suggests that there was a fear in Germany that they could fall behind work which was being done in the USA on eugenics. In addition there is the sense of humiliation and disintegration which remains from the First World War. There was a widely accepted right-wing theory that Germany hadn't been militarily defeated but had been undermined by strikes in munitions factories which had been orchestrated by Communists and Jews.

From here, the author offers brief biographies and psychological profiles of Ernst B., Josef Mengele and Eduard Wirths before turning his attention to the psychology of genocide.

There is also an examination of how the development of 'professionalism' results in detachment and objectivity - a psychological 'doubling' which the author has shown to be present in each of his case studies. He suggests that this splitting of the psyche is an important factor in leading towards genocide. Not just doctors but any profession would be advised to reflect on the author's message here and to examine to what extent their professionalism compromises their integrity as a human being.

As you may anticipate, there are moments when this book proves upsetting. It is not an easy read. However, I never felt that the unpleasant incidents were recounted in a gratuitous way. It reminded me of Henry Charles Lea's 'A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages.' You may wish to try to get hold of Lea's book (3 volumes) to compare and contrast.

5 out of 5 stars

If you wish to learn about the holocaust, this is the book. May 18, 2000
19 out of 22 found this review helpful

This book was the best that I have read. It was a required reading and I went into it with a bad attitude. But, as soon as I began to read it I realized that this was a really good book. I recommend it too anyone that wishes to know what Hitler and his men were thinking. It provides an excellent discription and analysis of what the Nazi Doctors were thinking and the emotional stress that they were going through. It is definatly not for the weak.

5 out of 5 stars

An Extraordinary Work December 31, 1998
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

Robert Jay Lifton has written an exceptional work, thoroughly and painstakingly researched, and above all, he presents an analysis of the psychopathology of the Nazi doctors that is so well-thought out and well-presented that I recommend this book above all others for my students of criminal profiling. His discourse on the nature of evil and its place and use in society is unmatched in any book I have read to date. Pat Brown, Director/Investigative Criminal Profiler/The Sexual Homicide Exchange of Washington DC and Vicinity

5 out of 5 stars

A disturbing account of Nazi Germany November 2, 1998
10 out of 13 found this review helpful

I have not picked up "Nazi Doctors" in years, but just seeing it on my book shelf awakens the images that the book produces. It was so disturbing and descriptive that I was unable to finish it. The book was handed down by my father, a medical doctor, whom couldn't finish it either. It's excellently written, but not for the weak.

5 out of 5 stars

A detailed account October 29, 1998
13 out of 14 found this review helpful

If you only read one book about doctors under Hitler then this is the one. Lifton not only focuses on the leading medical figures in the Third Reich, but also includes eyewitness testimony and disturbing accounts from victims. He offers numerous theories on how medical professionals turned into dispassionate killers in the name of "scientific research." A must read for anyone interested in behavioral pathology.