Karl Brandt: The Nazi Doctor Medicine and Power in the Third Reich

Some sixty years after the Nuremberg trials, interest in theleading figures of the Third Reich continues unabated. Here, Ulf Schmidtrecounts the meteoric rise of one of Hitler's most trusted advisers, Karl Brandt. As Reich Commissionerfor Health and Sanitation, Karl Brandt became the highest medical authority inthe Nazi regime. He was entrusted with the killing of handicapped children andadults - the so-called 'Euthanasia' Program - and played a part in illegalmedical experiments on concentration camp prisoners. What drove a rational,highly cultured, idealistic and talented young medic to become responsible formass murder and criminal human experimentation on a previously unimaginablescale? This riveting biography explores in detail the level of culpability of oneof the most intriguing of the Nuremberg Nazis. Ulf Schmidt presentsan incisive study of Brandt's political power as a way of exploring the contradictionsof Nazi medicine in which the care for wounded civilians and soldiers existedside by side with the murder of tens of thousands of unwanted people. Brandt's eventual capture and trial atNuremberg in 1947 is also described in detail. This book is the first major biography of Brandt,featuring substantial unseen documentation, and a lasting reminder of thehorrors of the Third Reich>