Hermann Paul Nitsche (November 25, 1876 – March 25, 1948) was a German

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

known for his expert endorsement of the Third Reich's

euthanasia Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), se ...

authorization and who later headed the Medical Office of the

T-4 Euthanasia Program (German, ) was a campaign of mass murder by involuntary euthanasia which targeted people with disabilities and the mentally ill in Nazi Germany. The term was first used in post-war trials against doctors who had been involved in the killing ...

. Nitsche was born in 1876 in

Colditz Colditz () is a small town in the district of Leipzig (district), Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. It is best known for Colditz Castle, the site of the Oflag IV-C prisoner-of-war camp, POW camp for officers in World War II. Geography Colditz is situa ...

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

. His father, Hermann Nitsche, was a psychiatrist. He attended elementary school in

Pirna Pirna (; , ) is a town in Saxony, Germany and capital of the administrative district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. The town's population is over 37,000. Pirna is located near Dresden and is an important district town as well as a ''Große ...

(German: ''Volksschule'') from 1882 to 1887. Nitsche was condemned to death for

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

for killing over one thousand people, and guillotined in March 1948 in Dresden.

Career

Nitsche received his medical license in 1901 and a professorship in 1925. Nitsche did not join the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

until May 1933. He was a strong supporter of eugenics and euthanasia and was present at the gassing demonstration at what would become the Brandenburg euthanasia center in either December 1939 or January 1940. He was driven not so much by

Nazi racial ideology The German Nazi Party adopted and developed several racial hierarchical categorizations as an important part of its racist ideology (Nazism) in order to justify enslavement, extermination, ethnic persecution and other atrocities against ...

as by his own support of racial science and his vision of "progressive medicine". Being well established, Nitsche was no longer motivated by the prospect of career advancement but was rather ideologically committed when he later joined

Action T4 (German, ) was a campaign of Homicide#By state actors, mass murder by involuntary euthanasia which targeted Disability, people with disabilities and the mentally ill in Nazi Germany. The term was first used in post-WWII, war trials against d ...

Euthanasia

He was deputy director of the Sonnenstein Clinic from 1913 to 1918 and director of the institution 1928 to 1939. In 1940 he became deputy director of the

Medical Office (German: ''Medizinische Abteilung'') under

Werner Heyde Werner Heyde (aka Fritz Sawade) (25 April 1902 – 13 February 1964) was a German psychiatrist. He was one of the main organizers of Nazi Germany's T-4 Euthanasia Program. Early life Heyde was born in Forst (Lausitz), on May 25, in 1902, and ...

, which had a

front organization A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy ...

called the Reich Cooperative for State Hospitals and Nursing Homes (German: ''Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft Heil- und Pflegeanstalten'') that handled the registration, evaluation, and selection of patients for adult euthanasia. As the T4 program's chief physician, Nitsche was responsible for corresponding with mental health institutions about registering and transferring patients to be euthanized. He succeeded Heyde as head of the Medical Office in December 1941.

Trial and execution

He was arrested on March 11, 1945. His trial took place from June 16, 1947, to July 7, 1947. He was condemned to death for

on the basis of Allied Control Council Law No. 10 for killing over one thousand people. He attempted to justify his actions, saying they were intended to free the sick from pain. He was executed by guillotine on March 25, 1948, in Dresden.

Notes

References

* * Boris Böhm, Hagen Markwardt: ''Hermann Paul Nitsche (1876–1948) – Zur Biografie eines Reformpsychiaters und Hauptakteurs der NS-"Euthanasie".'' In: Stiftung Sächsische Gedenkstätten (Hrsg.): ''Nationalsozialistische Euthanasieverbrechen. Beiträge zur Aufarbeitung ihrer Geschichte in Sachsen.'' Michael Sandstein Verlag, Dresden 2004. . *

Ernst Klee Ernst Klee (15 March 1942, Frankfurt – 18 May 2013, Frankfurt) was a German journalist and author. As a writer on Germany's history, he was best known for his exposure and documentation of medical crimes in Nazi Germany, much of which was conce ...

: ''"Euthanasie" im NS-Staat. Die "Vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens".'' S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1983. . * Ernst Klee (Hrsg.): ''Dokumente zur "Euthanasie".'' Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1985, . * Götz Aly (Hrsg.): ''Aktion T4 1939–1945. Die "Euthanasie"-Zentrale in der Tiergartenstraße 4.'' Edition Hentrich, 2. erweiterte Auflage, Berlin, 1989. . * Joachim S. Hohmann: ''Der "Euthanasie"-Prozeß von Dresden 1947. Eine zeitgeschichtliche Dokumentation.'' Frankfurt a.M., 1993 * Thomas Schilter: ''Unmenschliches Ermessen. Die nationalsozialistische "Euthanasie"-Tötungsanstalt Pirna-Sonnenstein 1940/41.'' Leipzig, 1998 * Alexander Mitscherlich, Fred Mielke: ''Medizin ohne Menschlichkeit. Dokumente des Nürnberger Ärzteprozesses.'' Frankfurt a.M., 1960 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nitsche, Hermann Paul 1876 births 1948 deaths Aktion T4 personnel Executed German mass murderers Executed people from Saxony German people convicted of crimes against humanity German eugenicists German psychiatrists History of psychiatry Holocaust perpetrators Nazis executed by guillotine Nazis executed in East Germany Nazis executed for war crimes People executed by East Germany by guillotine Medical practitioners convicted of murdering their patients People executed for crimes against humanity People from Colditz People from the Kingdom of Saxony Physicians in the Nazi Party

Career

Euthanasia

Trial and execution

See also

Notes

References