Alt Rehse is a village and a former
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality ...
in the
Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in pop ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
. On 1 July 2008, it was incorporated into the town
Penzlin
Penzlin () is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated 13 km southwest of Neubrandenburg, and 27 km east of Waren. In July 2008 it absorbed the former municipality Alt Reh ...
.
During the
Nazi era it was the site of an ''Institute of Genetics'', run by
Dr Hermann Boehm, and the ''Führerschule der Deutschen Ärzteschaft'' (Leadership School of German Medicine). At this school, doctors, nurses and midwives attended a six-week course, during which they studied
Nazi racial ideology
The Nazi Party adopted and developed several pseudoscientific racial classifications as part of its ideology (Nazism) in order to justify the genocide of groups of people which it deemed racially inferior. The Nazis considered the putative "A ...
, genetics, "racial science" and
eugenics
Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...
under Boehm. Students wore uniforms and were expected to participate in sports as well as hard daily exercise and to carry out physical labour. It was the eventual intention that all German medical professionals would pass through the school.
Buildings that accommodated the students were built in the style of traditional, rural thatched cottages. The majority still carry inscriptions indicating when they were built: "Year 3,4,5", i.e. 1936, the third year of the new, Nazi era.
References
Villages in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
{{MecklenburgischeSeenplatte-geo-stub