Werner Villinger (9 October 1887 in

Besigheim Besigheim () is a municipality in the district of Ludwigsburg in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated 13 km north of Ludwigsburg at the confluence of the Neckar and Enz rivers. The town has many old buildings and a tow ...

– 8 August 1961 near

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

) was a

Nazi German Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

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 ...

neurologist Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...

eugenicist Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetics, genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human Phenotype, phenotypes by ...

and the leading physician at the Bethel Institution ("Anstalt Bethel"). Villinger's specialities included

juvenile delinquency Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior younger than the statutory age of majority. These acts would be considered crimes if the individuals committing them were older. The term ...

, child guidance and group therapy. He was a Professor of Psychiatry at the

Philipps University of Marburg Philipps is an English language, English, Dutch language, Dutch, and German language, German surname meaning "lover of horses". Derivative, patronym, of the more common ancient Greek name "Philippos and Philippides." Notable people with this surnam ...

and a leading member of the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH).

Action T4

Under the Germany's

Nazi 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 ...

regime of the 1930s and '40s, Villinger acted as an expert in the government's

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 ...

On Social Welfare Education Day 1934, Villinger gave a speech on

sterilization Sterilization may refer to: * Sterilization (microbiology), killing or inactivation of micro-organisms * Soil steam sterilization, a farming technique that sterilizes soil with steam in open fields or greenhouses * Sterilization (medicine) render ...

and described the reaction, fears and resistance of the boys involved.

Post-war

Villinger attended the U.S.

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

Conference on Children and Youth. In 1951, he became co-chairman of the WFMH Health and Human Relations Conference at Hiddesen-near-

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of ...

. In 1952, he was a member of a WFMH group on Educating the Public whose Annual Conference met in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. In 1952, he was elected president of the German Association for Child and Youth Psychiatry, and in 1954 became the head of the medical department of

. In 1961, the German Federal Authorities announced their intent to try Villinger for his actions under the Nazi regime. Before he could be tried, however, Villinger threw himself to his death off a mountain top near

References

The Origins of Nazi Genocide In the Name of the PeopleMedical and Psychological Effects of Concentration Camps on Holocaust Survivors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Villinger, Werner 1887 births 1961 suicides 1961 deaths Holocaust perpetrators in Germany People from Besigheim People from the Kingdom of Württemberg Physicians in the Nazi Party German psychiatrists German eugenicists German neurologists Aktion T4 personnel Historians of Nazism Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Nazis who died by suicide in Austria Suicides by jumping in Austria

Action T4

Post-war

See also

References