Biomaterial Database

Nazism and nursing: a comment on relevance. 1996

C A Holmes

School of Nursing, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia.

This paper suggest that it is crucial at the present time to look back and consider the role of nurses and the health-care system in the development of Nazi Germany. The paper points out that medical involvement in the Holocaust was extensive and underwritten by the subversion of science to political ends. Evidence is amassed which points to dangerous trends in the conduct of contemporary medicine and to the continuing capacity for institutionally endorsed abuses of human rights. It is suggested that nursing examine its role in the implementation of Nazi policies, so that its continuing susceptibility to political subversion can be recognised, evaluated and neutralised.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008511	Medicine	The art and science of studying, performing research on, preventing, diagnosing, and treating disease, as well as the maintenance of health.	Insurance Medicine,Medical Specialities,Medical Specialties,Medical Specialty,Specialities, Medical,Specialties, Medical,Specialty, Medical,Insurance Medicines,Medical Speciality,Medicine, Insurance,Medicines, Insurance,Speciality, Medical
D009729	Nursing	The field of nursing care concerned with the promotion, maintenance, and restoration of health.	Nursings
D011056	Political Systems	The units based on political theory and chosen by countries under which their governmental power is organized and administered to their citizens.	Political System,System, Political,Systems, Political
D005858	Germany	A country in central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark. The capital is Berlin.
D006806	Human Rights	The right of the individual to cultural, social, economic, and educational opportunities as provided by society, e.g., right to work, right to education, and right to social security.	Linguistic Rights,Right to Housing and Shelter,Rights of Indigenous Peoples,Collective Human Rights,Equal Rights,Human Rights, Collective,Indigenous Peoples Rights,Rights, Collective Human,Rights, Equal,Rights, Linguistic
D017767	Holocaust	A massive slaughter, especially the systematic mass extermination of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps prior to and during World War II.	Holocausts
D049673	History, 20th Century	Time period from 1901 through 2000 of the common era.	20th Century History,20th Cent. History (Medicine),20th Cent. History of Medicine,20th Cent. Medicine,Historical Events, 20th Century,History of Medicine, 20th Cent.,History, Twentieth Century,Medical History, 20th Cent.,Medicine, 20th Cent.,20th Cent. Histories (Medicine),20th Century Histories,Cent. Histories, 20th (Medicine),Cent. History, 20th (Medicine),Century Histories, 20th,Century Histories, Twentieth,Century History, 20th,Century History, Twentieth,Histories, 20th Cent. (Medicine),Histories, 20th Century,Histories, Twentieth Century,History, 20th Cent. (Medicine),Twentieth Century Histories,Twentieth Century History