Nuremberg, 1947

20th-century German medicine offers a cautionary tale that we'd do well not to forget

A visitor watches the exhibition at the Memorial to the Nuremberg Trials in Nuremberg, Germany, on Oct. 23, 2019. chrisdorney/Shutterstock

Commentary

In the 1930s, German medicine and German health care institutions were widely considered the most advanced in the world. However, subtle but enormously consequential shifts had been underway decades before Adolf Hitler came to power, starting with the rise of the eugenics movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.