Dark Years: The Legacy of Euthanasia

Aleksandra Loewenau Announcement
Location
Germany
Subject Fields
German History / Studies, History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies, Modern European History / Studies, Nationalism History / Studies

Dear Sirs and Madames,  

As part of a public film screening and subsequent discussion, the Leopoldina Study Center will present the film "Dark Years: The Legacy of Euthanasia" on Tuesday, November 27, 2018 at the Puschkino in Halle (Saale).  

Julius Hallervorden ML (1882-1965), physician and brain researcher at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research in Berlin, used the brains of several hundred mentally handicapped or mentally ill people who were killed in the euthanasia program, for his brain research. His research benefited on a large scale from National Socialist racial hygiene. Until the 1980s, the brain slices were kept in the Max Planck Society, the successor institution of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society. It was not until 1985 that a confrontation with one's own history and responsibility began. In the form of interviews with active and emeritus directors of the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, the documentary film "Dark Years: The Legacy of Euthanasia" thematizes the role of Hallervorden, the history of brain slices in the MPG and his own responsibility in dealing with them preparations. The film is in English, the discussion is conducted in German.  

The event takes place in Puschkino in Halle, Kardinal-Albrecht Straße 6, 06108 Halle (Saale), the start is at 17:30. Admission is free.  

Program: 17:30: Film screening "Dark Years: The Legacy of Euthanasia"

6.30 pm: Prof. dr. Heinz Wässle ML (Director emer. At the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research): The murder of mentally ill people in the Nazi era and the abuse of victims by science

19.00: Prof.  Paul J. Weindling ML (head of the project group for the research of brain slices): From collective to individual life and postmortal processing of research victims

19.30: discussion  

Moderation: Dr. Aleksandra Loewenau and Nikolas Schröder  

The event takes place as part of the collaborative project "Brain Research at Institutes of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in the Context of National Socialist Iniquities" (together with the Medical University of Vienna, the Technical University of Munich and Oxford Brookes University) at the Leopoldina Study Center and is supported by the Max Planck Society. Sponsored Planck Society. 

Contact Email
aleksandra.loewenau@leopoldina.org