After the fact, how do you determine
who was a true believer in the Nazi cause
and who was merely a follower?
In point of fact, it is not always as clear
as in the case of Hugo Spatz and Julius
Hallervorden. For example, Heinrich Pette,
who headed the Neurology Department of
the Society of German Neurologists and
Psychiatrists, has never been linked to the
euthanasia program. If we want to know
whether a particular person was complicit
with the Nazi system, we could of course
ask: Was he or she a member of a National
Socialist organization? But that would be
an oversimplification because many people
became members of the Nazi Party without
acting on its behalf. That is why we also
look at the date on which they joined. Forexample, did the person join the party be-
fore 1933 or after the seizure of power? Or
was he or she someone who applied for
membership after it stopped accepting
members? Other important considerations
include personal contacts with Nazi func-
tionaries, appearances at political events,
publication in Nazi periodicals and the de-
nunciation of co-workers. Pette took the
stage at important Nazi-sponsored events
and frequently expressed the racial policies
of the day. But it is not yet clear whether he
betrayed colleagues—or perhaps may even
have protected them.
Prizes awarded by the German Society
of Neurology, which was rededicated in
1950, have actually been named in honor
of Spatz and Pette. How could this have
happened?
After the war the German colleges of
physicians concocted a self-protective in-
terpretation. They convinced themselves
that only a few doctors had participated inA man has his nose measured during Aryan race
determination tests under Nazi Germany's Nuremberg
Laws that were applied to determine whether a person
was considered a “Jew.” “Non-Aryan” neurologists were
expelled from the country, killed or driven to suicide.UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVEGETTY IMAGES