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RESEARCH PRODUCT

From Nazi holocaust to nuclear holocaust: a lesson to learn?

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In a 1986 address to the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, a German physician describes his profession's embrace of National Socialism. The nationalistic sentiments of German scientists led them to identify with the goals of the Third Reich and to participate in its programs. He gives examples of physician involvement in the Nazi Party, discrimination against "non-Aryan" doctors, "eugenic" mass murder, and lethal experiments with human subjects. The few who protested were regarded as traitors by the profession as a whole, and post-war apologists argue that physicians' organizations had no choice but to collaborate with the Nazis. Hanauske-Abel rejects this reasoning and reminds his colleagues that they are obliged to do more than care for patients. He urges all physicians, as guardians of health, not to aid government efforts in medical planning for nuclear war, and to resist the nuclear arms buildup by both sides.