Justifying murder with eugenics

CYNTHIA RAMSAY

There are two exhibits showing in Ottawa right now, which share an important theme: Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race is at the Canadian War Museum until Nov. 11 and The 1930s: The Making of "The New Man" is at the National Gallery of Canada until Sept. 7. The Feature last week discussed the show at the gallery.

More than 2,800 people were sterilized in Alberta before its 1928 Sexual Sterilization Act was repealed in the early 1970s; hundreds were victims of compulsory sterilization in British Columbia, which had a similar act in place for 40 years, from 1933. Such icons as Emily Murphy, who helped women become viewed as "persons" under Canadian law, and Tommy Douglas, the "father" of socialized medicine in this country, supported eugenics. And they were not alone, as the exhibit Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race clearly demonstrates.

Deadly Medicine is a travelling exhibition created and circulated by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It is currently showing at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa and the subject matter and some of the images are disturbing, so the museum advises against bringing young children.

The exhibit glossary defines eugenics as "the study and practice of improving human beings through selective reproduction. From the Greek, meaning 'good birth.'" While it focuses on how the Nazis used eugenics in their attempt to create a master race, Deadly Medicine begins in the late 19th century, when eugenics was in fashion, so to speak, and was being taken from its scientific realm – Charles Darwin's natural selection theory, based on his research of animals and plants – into the social sphere. Darwin's half-cousin, Englishman Francis Galton, coined the term eugenics in 1883 and it became a popular idea around the world as a way in which the human race could be perfected by the elimination of physical disabilities, mental illness and other heredity aspects, some of which were thought to contribute to poverty and crime.

According to the exhibit's educational brochure, international support for eugenics was fostered by German biologist August Weissmann's theory of "immutable germ plasm" and the "rediscovery in 1900 of Austrian botanist Gregor Mendel's theory that the biological makeup of organisms was determined by certain 'factors' that were later identified with genes."

Wide public support for eugenics provided the impetus for Alberta's and British Columbia's sterilization laws, as well as those of many U.S. states and a number of European countries. Douglas' 1933 master's thesis is on display at the Deadly Medicine exhibit and the explanatory side-panel reads that Douglas warned of the "social and financial threat posed to society by 'subnormal families.' Among his suggested remedies was the sterilization of 'defectives.'" He must have changed his mind, however, since, during his premiership of Saskatchewan (1944-1961), he rejected proposals for a provincial sterilization act.

For those who marvel at the potential of science and for those who advocate government-run programs for society's betterment, Deadly Medicine is a warning. The artifacts, images, personal testimonies and other material presented effectively show how the scientifically and publicly sanctioned destruction of a few led to the murder of many. Calipers and color charts were used to measure intelligence and racial purity, people with mental illnesses and disabilities were sterilized, euthanasia was practised and medical experiments were conducted on people deemed to be of lesser value in countries other than Germany and before the Nazis came into power in 1933, when "eugenic proposals were applied as policies on a scale never seen before."

On the war museum's website, the exhibit backgrounder notes, "Driven by virulent anti-Semitism, the Nazi regime expanded this program of mass killing from those deemed biologically unfit to those deemed 'racially' unfit. As the Second World War raged, this culminated in an attempt to eliminate all of Europe's Jews, six million of whom ultimately perished in the Holocaust. Many others also became victims of persecution and murder in the Nazis' campaign to 'cleanse' German society of individuals viewed as threats to the 'health' of the nation."

Deadly Medicine shows the complicity of German physicians, scientists, public health officials, academic experts and others in the Holocaust – "individuals in professions traditionally charged with healing and the public good" who helped "legitimize persecution, murder and, ultimately, genocide." Very few of these people were brought to account for their actions, according to the exhibit's concluding display on postwar justice. Dr. Paul Nitsche was executed, Dr. Carl Clauberg was sentenced to 25 years in prison (but served much less) and Dr. Josef Mengele escaped to Argentina; seven other doctors mentioned in the exhibit – some of whom were central figures – all had careers after the war.

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