The
Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide
by Robert Jay Lifton
ALL the world knows of Adolf Hitler and the
atrocities committed under his leadership during the Nazi era. But were
he and his small band of accomplices alone? Psychiatrists supplied the
flawed theories and ideas of eugenics and biochemistry which provided the
justification for wholesale slaughter of the "inferior". Timely reading
because modern psychiatry is treading down the same path once again - forgetting
about healing and concentrating instead on biology, genetics, and brain
chemistry.
Synopsis
This powerful study, the result of ten years
of painstaking research and extensive interviews, casts new light not only
on the origins of the Holocaust, but explains how physicians, sworn by
oath and conviction to ease suffering, were transformed from healers to
systematic killers.
Customer Comments
gfkat@aol.com from Hoffman
Estates, IL., July 27, 1999
AN EXCELLENT BOOK!
For somebody just interested in what went
on in the "Nazi bio-medical vision" or the researcher, I highly recommend
it. Robert J. Lifton gives a highly detailed account from survivors and
even medical personnel that were present. His book steers clear of fabricated
stories and really tries to underline the truth behind this tragedy. I
bought this book 2-3 years ago, and I still cannot put it down. The true-life
stories behind this book really leave an impression no one can deny. So
like one reviewer on this book commented, I also must say if this is the
only book you'll ever read on this subject, this is the one to read.
shestalker@aol.com from
College Park, Maryland, December 30, 1998
An Extraordinary Work
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.
mmosely465@aol.com from
USA, November 27, 1998
Excellent book --relevant to our current
times
This is an excellent book which is relevant
to our times in that we have systematically done away with the Hippocratic
Oath. History can indeed repeat itself and this book shows what happens
when doctors are allowed to become mere biological technicians instead
of healers.
A reader from Boston, Massachusetts,
November 2, 1998
A disturbing account of Nazi Germany
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.
A reader from Virginia,
October 29, 1998
A detailed account
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.
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