NS "euthanasia" research project

Building on the foundations laid by the psychoanalyst and medical historian Hans-Ludwig Siemen and others over the past 25 years, a research project is devoting itself for the first time to the topic of Nazi "euthanasia" in Erlangen.

The Erlangen sanatorium and nursing home was the site of "euthanasia" crimes during the Nazi era. Over 900 disabled and mentally ill people were taken from here to killing centers, and many hundreds more fell victim to the so-called "starvation diet" and structural neglect in the later years of the war. Three circumstances were specific to the Erlangen institution: its function as an intermediate institution, its location in the middle of the city and its close structural connection to Erlangen University Psychiatry - the events were visible to the city society and the employees and members of the University of Erlangen. The first volume will be available in September 2024 and will present the first results of a multi-year joint research project by the Institute for the History and Ethics of Medicine at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Erlangen City Archive. On the basis of a systematic survey of archive sources, most of which have not yet been evaluated, the events behind the walls of the institution are presented and analyzed in their medical, communal and public context. Particular attention will be paid to the victims, who, in addition to their individual fates, also exhibit group biographical characteristics.