Germany recently unveiled original documents revealing the humiliation and deprivation of rights and licenses of Jewish doctors during the Nazi regime were unveiled. The documents were discovered by chance in a safe at the German Medical Association building in Berlin.
Inside a folder labeled "Jewish Doctors," various records hidden after World War II were found. Thousands of documents were examined after six years of work by a historian.
The documents show that Jewish doctors were suspended solely based on their religion and ethnicity. Patients were prohibited from seeking treatment from Jewish doctors, and the care was intentionally substandard in cases where Jewish patients were treated.
On July 25, 1938, the Reich Citizenship Law was issued, revoking Jewish doctors' licenses effective September 30. "The decree stated that Jews authorized to treat Jewish patients could only use the title 'caregivers' instead of 'doctor.'"
One of the documents illustrates the active involvement of professional medical associations in Nazi Germany in implementing the ruling party's policies within the healthcare sector. The document was found in a binder from the German Medical Association (KVD).
At the time, between 10% and 20% of doctors in Germany were Jewish, with an even higher proportion in Berlin. Altogether, thousands of Jewish doctors were ousted. The leaders of the medical association at the time likely concealed these documents out of shame.
Unsurprisingly, many of them held roles in Germany's healthcare system after the war, attempting to hide their Nazi past to preserve their jobs or reputations. The documents reveal that these leaders not only didn’t oppose the ban on Jewish doctors practicing medicine but also actively worked to enforce it independently during Nazi rule.
One document, titled "Jews" and circulated to medical organizations across Germany on October 17, 1938, read: "Our goal cannot be to fill German doctors' waiting rooms with Jews."
An earlier document from 1933, a week after Hitler came to power, demanded that Jewish doctors who were members of the organization immediately resign.
"Everything was phrased very professionally. It's shocking. You see a professional institution making inhumane decisions in a methodical way. It's very difficult to read. They normalized it," said Dr. Christoph Weinrich, head of the German Medical Association’s legal department, who uncovered the documents.
The documents were presented at an exhibition in Berlin on Thursday during an event marking 86 years since Kristallnacht, hosted by the German Bundestag. Representing Israel at the event were Knesset Deputy Speaker and former minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen and Yesh Atid MK Merav Ben Ari. Also present was 103-year-old Margot Friedlander, Germany's oldest Holocaust survivor alongside German Health Minister Prof. Karl Lauterbach.
The German Medical Association requested that after the documents' exposure and display in Germany, they be housed in a suitable memorial archive. Farkash-Hacohen facilitated the matter by reaching out to Yad Vashem and connecting the museum with the association.
Yad Vashem recognized the new documentation's significance and agreed to receive the documents for public display after the conclusion of the “Systemic Disorder – Doctors and Patients in Nazi Germany,” exhibition in the country.
"The discovery of these archival materials, following significant research by the German Medical Association, is of immense importance during these times when violent antisemitism shows its ugly face — in the Amsterdam pogrom, the disgraceful arrest warrants and anti-Israel demonstrations worldwide,” Farkash-Hacohen said.
Dr. Andreas Gassen, head of the German Federal Ministry of Health, added, "As German doctors and health professionals, we bear the responsibility to expose the crimes committed by our profession against Jews under the Nazi regime. At our initiative, historians investigated the actions of our counterpart organization during the Nazi period and we now present the findings to the world in this exhibition."
The documents also showed questionnaires on lineage filled out by doctors in Cologne. These forms included questions about religion and roles in World War I, as well as handwritten notes by KVD officials.
These annotations reveal their considerations when reviewing the forms. For instance, in the questionnaire of a doctor named Karl Horchler, who identified as Protestant, a KVD expert noted Horchler was Jewish after seven months of investigation.
Irit Filipowicz, director of Yad Vashem's archives division, said, "These documents provide us with a deeper understanding of the processes that unfolded in Germany after the Nazis came to power. They show how Nazi policies permeated various institutions, including medical organizations within a few years in detail.”
Prof. Guy Miron of the Open University and Yad Vashem’s International Institute for Holocaust Research added, "The prohibition against Jewish doctors treating 'Aryans' was an integral part of the regime’s efforts to isolate the Jewish population in Germany. This campaign began with the first wave of anti-Jewish activities by the Nazi regime in the spring of 1933.”
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Oren Pasternak, a social activist leading the Israeli delegation, also addressed the new documents, saying, "Two years ago, when Christoph and I met in Tel Aviv, he told me about the existence of protocols from the Nazi era documenting restrictions on Jewish doctors and patients prior to Kristallnacht, protocols that had been concealed for years.
“I immediately understood that these protocols belonged in Israel, at Yad Vashem. We worked to establish this delegation to Berlin and to bring these Nazi protocols to Israel.”