Werner Catel (27 June 1894 – 30 April 1981), Professor of Pediatrics at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

, was one of three doctors considered an expert on the programme of

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 ...

for children and participated in the

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 ...

" programme for the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

, the other two being Hans Heinze and Ernst Wentzler.

Action T4

In early 1939, a farm labourer called Richard Kretschmar requested Catel's permission to euthanise one of his children, now identified as Gerhard Kretschmar, who had been born blind and deformed. Catel deferred the matter and suggested the father write directly to

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

for permission. Hitler subsequently sent Dr. Karl Brandt to confer with Catel and decide on a course of action. On July 25, 1939 the child was killed. The T4 program was influenced by a popular book, ''Allowing the destruction of life unworthy of living'', written in 1920 by Alfred Hoche and Karl Binding. Catel, as part of this programme, was probably influenced by it too. In his 1962 publication, ''Grenzsituation des Lebens'' (Border situations of life), Catel argued for the reintroduction of euthanasia. As had Binding and Hoche, Catel identified three possible types of euthanasia. *''Reine Euthanasie'': "Real" euthanasia was seen as the killing of a person who was suffering from so much pain, that an ever-increasing amount of pain-reducing drugs had to be administered. This consequently led to the person's death. *''Euthanasie im engeren Sinne'': The killing of a patient whose illness "according to medical experience" is so bad "that there is no hope of recovery", but whose death is also not to be expected in the near future. (See terminal sedation) *''Euthanasie im weiteren Sinne'': The "extermination of the life of an "idiot child" or an adult in a similar condition. Catel defined "idiot children" as being "such monsters ... which are nothing but a massa carnis".

Postwar career

After the war Catel took charge of the ''Mammolshöhe Children's Mental Home'' near Kronberg, where he continued to rally for the euthanasia of children deemed beyond hope. In 1949 he was found to have committed no grave crimes by a

denazification Denazification () was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by removing those who had been Nazi Par ...

board in

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, and became attached to the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, (, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public research university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the ''Academia Holsator ...

in 1954. There was serious discussion after his death in 1981 of establishing a ''Werner Catel Foundation'' with $200,000 from his estate, but the idea was finally dismissed in 1984. A 2024 investigation of Mammolshöhe by the Hesse State Welfare Association (Landeswohlfahrtsverband Hessen) found that Catel used his position to illegally experiment on children. In particular, he tested the

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

drug thioacetazone on them despite knowing that the drug had severe side effects on children. At least four children died as the result of his experiments. In addition, Catel recruited former colleagues from the Leipzig euthanasia program to Mammolshöhe, and investigations into his work were obstructed by other doctors, pharmaceutical companies and the medical bureaucracy.

References

* Hans-Christian Petersen und Sönke Zankel. ''Werner Catel - ein Protagonist der NS-"Kindereuthanasie" und seine Nachkriegskarriere''. In: Medizinhistorisches Journal. Medicine and the Life Sciences in History 38 (2003), S. 139-173. * Hans-Christian Petersen und Sönke Zankel: ''"Ein exzellenter Kinderarzt, wenn man von den Euthanasie-Dingen einmal absieht." - Werner Catel und die Vergangenheitspolitik der Universität Kiel''. In: Hans-Werner Prahl u. a. (Hrsg.): Uni-Formierung des Geistes. Universität Kiel und der Nationalsozialismus. Kiel 2007, Bd. 2, S. 133-179. *

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 ...

: ''Deutsche Medizin im Dritten Reich'', S. Fischer Verlag Frankfurt/M., Oktober 2001 (Besprechung au
graswurzel.net
* Manfred Müller-Küppers: ''Die Geschichte der Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus'

* Ortrun Riha: ''Das schwerbehinderte Kind als ethische Verantwortung. Die Bürde der Vergangenheit als Verantwortung für die Zukunft.'' In: ''110 Jahre Universitätsklinik und Poliklinik für Kinder und Jugendliche in Leipzig''. Basel 2003, S. 17 ff. * Joachim Karl Dittrich: ''Rechtfertigungen? Betrachtungen zu drei Buchveröffentlichungen Werner Catels.'' In: 110 Jahre Universitätsklinik und Poliklinik für Kinder und Jugendliche in Leipzig. Basel 2003, S. 27 ff. * Berit Lahm, Thomas Seyde, Eberhard Ulm: ''Kindereuthanasieverbrechen in Leipzig. Verantwortung und Rezeption.'' Plöttner Verlag, Leipzig 2008, .

External links

Books by and about Catel in the German National BibliographyPage on Catel in the Faculty Catalog of the University of LeipzigBeitrag von Udo Benzenhöfer
Article by Udo Benzenhöfer (PDF, 162 kB) In: German Medical Journal, Vol 97, Issue 42, October 20, 2000

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catel, Werner 1894 births 1981 deaths Physicians in the Nazi Party German eugenicists Nazi eugenics Aktion T4 personnel

Action T4

Postwar career

See also

References

External links