| “LIFE UNWORTHY OF LIFE”: THE
GENETIC CURE |
| |
Prussian minister-president’s subordinates so that
the man’s illness would not become known; Ewald had even gone to Berlin to
report to Göring on the progress of the patient’s therapy. This
connection was undoubtedly a factor in Ewald’s later decision to ask
Matthias Göring to forward his critical memo on “euthanasia” to
Hermann. Indeed, Ewald’s way of articulating these views and making them
known to high medical officials indicates some trust in the regime and some
expectation that it would take seriously his moral scruples. The tone of his
covering letters to Heyde and Conti is that of a friendly colleague discussing
a serious matter. To Heyde, Ewald said, “I was sorry that I had to
disappoint you”; and to Conti, he declared himself “gladly at your
disposal for a personal consultation at any time, should this appear convenient
to you.” But, in these letters, he also spoke of his “medical
conscience” and “inner need” to do what he did.18 And he was not without fear of reprisal. After
his return to Göttingen from the meeting with Heyde in Berlin, Ewald said,
according to his widow, “Please be sensible about things, but be prepared
for the possibility that, any day from now on, I might be sent to a
concentration camp.” Also, he did not consult with colleagues about Nazi
medical killing because, his widow believed, it was forbidden to talk about the
subject to others, and he in any case “thought it would be of no
use.” She did, however, remember that later, sometime in 1944, he talked
actively with psychiatric colleagues about joining in an effort to declare
Hitler mad.*
Ewald's behavior became even more complex immediately
after the German surrender. His wife told how he burned most of his psychiatric
files because they "contained material against many people - they would lose
their capacity to earn a living and could be sent to prison." Further
questioning gave me the impression that the files contained correspondence
exhibiting various degrees of support for Nazi positions, from pro forma
expressions to strong enthusiasm, and could have been embarrassing not only to
colleagues but to Ewald himself.
Ewald’s widow also reported that
he had “hidden” a considerable number of psychiatrists in his
hospital, people who had been implicated in the “euthanasia” program.
He enabled them to work there with minimal visibility (it is not clear whether
they changed their names or took other measures to avoid being found), and at
one time had “fifty-one guest doctors.” She presented this as part of
her husband’s humanitarian impulse, his conviction that “it would not
help anybody if these men |
__________
* There is some confusion
concerning this remembered event. In 1938, at the time of the Czechoslovakian
crisis, a group of conspirators, including Hans von Dohnanyi, who was Karl
Bonhoeffer’s son-in-law, considered capturing Hitler and trying him in a
People’s Court for endangering Germany’s safety by courting war.
Dohnanyi and another man had produced a report of Hitler’s various
illnesses which they showed to Bonhoeffer in the hope that he, or a panel he
headed, would certify Hitler insane. A later attempt to question Hitler’s
sanity involved intrigue among high-level Nazis during the last year of the
war. There is no written evidence of Ewald’s participation in either of
these attempts, but he could have been involved in still another, unrecorded
effort by psychiatrists to declare Hitler mentally ill.19 |
|
