A chilling story of human depravity and ultimate justice, told for the first time by an eyewitness court reporter for the Nuremberg war crimes trial of Nazi doctors.
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A chilling story of human depravity and ultimate justice, told for the first time by an eyewitness court reporter for the Nuremberg war crimes trial of Nazi doctors.
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Fair. Ships same day or next. The cover has noticeable damage on the cover and the edges of some pages from return shipping but the text is very good and this is an unread copy. Expedited shipping available at checkout for domestic orders. Missing Jacket.
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Good in good dust jacket. Slightly cocked. Corner of one page creased. xxxv, 318 p. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. With a new Foreword by Elie Weisel. Foreword by Frederick R. Abrams, M. D. A chilling story of human depravity and ultimate justice, told for the first time by an eyewitness court reporter for the Nuremberg war crimes trial of Nazi doctors.
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Used book in good and clean conditions. Pages and cover are intact. Limited notes marks and highlighting may be present. May show signs of normal shelf wear and bends on edges. Item may be missing CDs or access codes. May include library marks. Fast Shipping.
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Missing Dust Cover-Pages and hard cover are intact. Used book in good conditions. Limited notes and highlighting may be present. May show signs of normal shelf wear and bends on corners and edges. Item may be missing CDs or access codes. Ships directly from Amazon.
Demented Doctors infected with the insanity of Nat
Review Written by Bernie Weisz Historian contact: BernWei1@aol.com July 10, 2011 Pembroke Pines, Florida U.S.A. Title of Review: Demented Doctors infected with the insanity of National Socialism Lilian Spitz's book hands down takes the cake in showing the depravity of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany and the depths that even their medical profession descended into. Ms. Spitz gives a bone chilling account of human depravity and the ultimate justice she witnessed as a court reporter for the Nuremberg war crimes trial of Nazi Doctors. With trial transcripts and previously unreleased photographs included in this book that were actually used as evidence in the trial, an account of torture and murder by experiment in the name of science and distorted National Socialistic patriotism is told. Aside from explaining what it was like to live for eighteen months in bombed-out, dangerous, post-war Nuremburg without hot water and electricity while working on the trial, the reader is taken with Ms. Spitz into the courtroom to hear the demonic testimony and see the reactions of the defendants to the proceedings. Adolf Hitler's doctors used unwilling Concentration Camp victims and Russian prisoners of war (as well as political prisoners) as unwilling subjects in these experiments and tests.
These subjects were usually lied to and promised an easier life, better food, or release...of course, all lies. Spitz starts off reminding readers of the oath all doctors supposedly must take, i.e. the "Hippocratic Oath" which states: "I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art. I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work. Whatever house I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves". How much did the Nazi's abide by this? Ms. Spitz points out in her book that after Hitler became Chancellor, compulsory sterilization laws were enacted to sterilize people born with congenital mental defects, schizophrenia, manic-depressive psychosis, hereditary epilepsy and severe alcoholism. Nazi doctors, despite their "Hippocratic Oath" saw to this. Next, came euthanasia of "useless eaters", i.e. welfare recipients, the elderly and infirm, terminal cancer patients, and the like.
Once again, Nazi doctors saw to this "mercy killing". World War II broke out with Germany's invasion of Poland on Sept. 1st, 1939. Spitz writes: "In 1940, carbon monoxide was the agent of choice, and 70,000 mental patients in German hospitals were reported in meticulously kept records to have been killed, but cause of death was falsified. In 1941, with the invasion of Russia, "Einsatzgruppen" (unique units of soldiers) with the specific mission of murdering Jews, Gypsies, and mental patients, moved with the armies into conquered territories. In December, 1941, Heinrich Himmler and the doctors that carried out the "euthanasia" combed the concentration camps for those who were unable to work or were otherwise undesirable, resulting in a vast number of deaths by the poison gas "Zyklon B". In 1941, Jews were touted by Adolf Hitler as "beings of another species" thus dehumanizing them and giving the German nation permission to act on their most sordid impulses. What type of doctor would perform gruesome and illegal experiments on innocent human beings? Spitz suggests: "Some German doctors sought the glory of professional distinction among peers through contributing to the welfare of humanity only as an abstract art. To them it was not unlike the amputation of a gangrenous limb or excising a malignant growth.
There is also a part where many years later Ms. Spitz is confronted with a "Holocaust Denier" who claimed that the aforementioned events never occurred. Ms. Spitz's response to this individual is inspiring, heart warming and very redemptive. This book ends with Ms. Spitz warning society with a prophetic quote from George Santana, which states: "Those who can not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. The past is prologue to the future". Among all the thousands of history books I have read in my life, this is one of the most important, vital stories I have ever come across, reminding mankind that whenever a doctor uses their medical services or professional skills against the patient's interests or deviates away from a position of individual patient advocacy in therapy or research, he or she starts down a slippery slope paralleling the Nazi doctors discussed in this horrifying story. Please read this book
krystalbird
Feb 18, 2010
Truth is told
This book is written by a reporter on the scene at Nuremberg, at that time she was a young woman determined to fill her job responsibly. The book demonstrates that she did this. Ms. Spitz gives selected details of the trials, but also supplies us with the backdrop of the trials, the mood in the town and in Germany in general; what her living conditions were; how she fulfilled everyday needs.
The book is quite likely most interesting to those looking to read about the Holocaust in depth.
