Werner Heyde (aka Fritz Sawade) (25 April 1902 – 13 February 1964) 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 ...

. 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 completed his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

in 1920. From 1922 to 1925, he studied medicine in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

and

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

and after short placements at the General Hospital in

Cottbus Cottbus () or (;) is a university city and the second-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after the state capital, Potsdam. With around 100,000 inhabitants, Cottbus is the most populous city in Lusatia. Cottbus lies in the Sorbian ...

and the sanatorium Berlin-Wittenau became assistant doctor at the ''Universitätsnervenklinik'' (university psychiatric hospital) in Würzburg. He obtained his licence to practice medicine in 1926, having completed all courses throughout his studies with top marks.

Career until 1945

In 1933, Heyde made the acquaintance of Theodor Eicke, and became a member of the NSDAP. One year later, he was appointed director of the polyclinic in Würzburg. In 1935, he entered the SS as medical officer with the rank of ''SS-Hauptsturmführer'', and became commander of the medical unit in the ''SS- Totenkopfverbände''. There he was responsible for establishing a system of psychiatric and eugenic examinations and research in

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

s, and for the organisation and the patient selection process of the Aktion T-4 Euthanasia Program. Victims of the program were sent for use in anatomical dissections particularly at the University of Würzburg. Additionally, he also worked as a psychiatric consultant for the ''

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

''. He also was leader of the Rassenpolitisches Amt in Würzburg, Seelbergstraße 8, 97080 Würzburg. Later he was accompanied by his Rassenpolitisches Amt assistant, Mr. Johannes Riedmiller aka Kurt Riethmüller aka Hans Riedmüller/Hans Riedmiller. In 1938, he was appointed chief of staff of the medical department in the ''SS-Hauptamt'' (headquarters); in 1939, he became professor for psychiatry and neurology at the University of Würzburg, and from 1940 on he also was director of the psychiatric hospital. He was replaced as head of the T4 program by Paul Nitsche in 1941, but continued his involvement as member of the "department Brack" (after the end of World War II, it was never found out what his role there was). He worked at

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...

, Dachau concentration camp and

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners t ...

s. In 1944, he was awarded the ''SS-

Totenkopfring The ''SS-Ehrenring'' (German language, German for "SS honour ring"), unofficially called ''Totenkopfring'' ("Totenkopf, Death's Head ring" or "skull ring"), was an award of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). The ring was not a Orders, decorations, and me ...

'', and before the end of the war reached the rank of ''SS-Standartenführer'' (Colonel).

Life after 1945; arrest and suicide

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Heyde was interned and imprisoned, but escaped in 1947. He went underground using the alias Fritz Sawade and continued practicing as a sports physician and psychiatrist in

Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish language, Danish and ; ; ) is an independent city, independent town in the far north of the Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. After Kiel and Lübeck, it is the third-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg's ...

. Many friends and associates knew about his real identity, but remained silent even as he was an

expert witness An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...

in court cases. His true identity was revealed in the course of a private quarrel, and on 11 November 1959 Heyde surrendered to police in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

after 13 years as a fugitive. On 13 February 1964, five days before his trial was to start, Heyde hanged himself at the prison in Butzbach.

Literature

*Klee, Ernst, ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich''. S. Fischer Verlag 2003. *Godau-Schüttke, Klaus-Detlev, ''Die Heyde/Sawade-Affäre''. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft 1998.

Films

*1963 (GDR): The Heyde-Sawade Affair ( biography/drama) (Produced in the DEFA-studios for movies, Potsdam, Babelsberg/Eastern Germany. Produced by Bernhard Gelbe; script by Wolfgang Luderer, Walter Jupé and Friedrich Karl Kaul and directed by Wolfgang Luderer. Available via the Foundation German TV and Broadcast Arkhive Babelsberg. Arkhive-No. IDNR 03581. Length: 101 minutes, First run: 3 June 1963 in the television programme No. 1 of the German Democratic Republic).

Paintings

In 1965, German artist

Gerhard Richter Gerhard Richter (; born 9 February 1932) is a German visual artist. Richter has produced Abstract art, abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, photographs and Glass art, glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important con ...

painted ''Herr Heyde'', based on a photo of Heyde's 1959 arrest.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heyde, Werner 1902 births 1964 suicides 1964 deaths Holocaust perpetrators People from Forst (Lausitz) People from the Province of Brandenburg SS-Standartenführer Aktion T4 personnel Historians of Nazism German eugenicists German psychiatrists Physicians in the Nazi Party 20th-century German historians University of Freiburg alumni University of Marburg alumni University of Rostock alumni University of Würzburg alumni Academic staff of the University of Würzburg Kapp Putsch participants 20th-century Freikorps personnel Nazis who died by suicide in Germany Nazis who died by suicide in prison custody Prisoners who died in German detention Suicides in West Germany Suicides by hanging in Germany