.mw-parser-output .hidden-begin{box-sizing:border-box;width:100%;padding:5px;border:none;font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .hidden-title{font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .hidden-content{text-align:left}You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (April 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the German article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 8,929 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Hermann Paul Nitsche]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template ((Translated|de|Hermann Paul Nitsche)) to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.
Paul Nitsche
Born
Hermann Paul Nitsche

(1876-11-25)November 25, 1876
Pfuhlsborn, German Empire
DiedMarch 25, 1948(1948-03-25) (aged 71)
Münchner Platz Prison, Dresden, Allied-occupied Germany
Cause of deathExecution by guillotine
Political partyNazi Party
Criminal statusExecuted
MotiveNazism
Conviction(s)Crimes against humanity
Criminal penaltyDeath
Details
VictimsTens of thousands
Span of crimes
1940–1945
Target(s)Mentally ill and intellectually disabled people
House 16, Schloss Sonnenstein, as a memorial

Hermann Paul Nitsche (November 25, 1876 – March 25, 1948) was a German psychiatrist known for his expert endorsement of the Third Reich's euthanasia authorization and who later headed the Medical Office of the T-4 Euthanasia Program.

Nitsche was born in 1876 in Colditz, Saxony. His father, Hermann Nitsche, was a psychiatrist.[1] He attended elementary school in Pirna (German: Volksschule) from 1882 to 1887.[1] Nitsche was condemned to death for crimes against humanity 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 until May 1933.[2] He was a strong supporter of eugenics and euthanasia[2] and was present at the gassing demonstration at what would become the Brandenburg euthanasia center in either December 1939 or January 1940.[3] He was driven not so much by Nazi racial ideology 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.

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 Action T4 Medical Office (German: Medizinische Abteilung) under Werner Heyde, which had a front organization 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.[4] As the T4 program's chief physician,[4] Nitsche was responsible for corresponding with mental health institutions about registering and transferring patients to be euthanized.[5]

He succeeded Heyde as head of the Medical Office in December 1941.[6]

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 crimes against humanity 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.[1]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Böhm, B. (2012). "Paul Nitsche – Reformpsychiater und Hauptakteur der NS-"Euthanasie"". Der Nervenarzt. Springer-Verlag. 83 (3): 293–302. doi:10.1007/s00115-011-3389-1. PMID 22399059. S2CID 32985121.
  2. ^ a b Friedlander 1995, p. 71.
  3. ^ Friedlander 1995, p. 75.
  4. ^ a b Friedlander 1995, p. 73.
  5. ^ Friedlander 1995, p. 74.
  6. ^ Friedlander 1995, p. 70-71.

References

Categories