German dentists hold memorial recognising sadistic practices of profession under Nazis

"German dentists have offered a belated acknowledgment of their profession's brutal practices under the Nazis, admitting broad systemic involvement in crimes at concentration camps, including sadistic tooth extractions, human experiments, forced sterilisations and murder. Their central professional organisation, the German Society for Dental, Oral and Orthodontic Medicine (DGZMK), held its first memorial ceremony exposing the atrocities committed by dentists during the Nazi era and paying tribute to the victims, at Berlin's Humboldt University on Wednesday."

"Studies commissioned by the medical community in recent years have begun to reveal the extent of dentists' complicity under Adolf Hitler. The systematic removal of gold crowns and fillings from corpses in the camps, for example, allowed them to be re-used in German patients a practice carried out by Hitler's personal dentist, Hugo Blaschke or melted down to fund the war effort."

"More than 60% of lecturers and professors of dentistry under the so-called Third Reich joined the Nazi party including eight of the nine presidents of the DGZMK, said Dominik Gro, director of the Institute for the History, Theory and Ethics of Medicine at Aachen University and a trained dentist. This included 55% of dentists in general a much higher rate than doctors or teachers."

The German dental profession acknowledged broad, systemic involvement in Nazi-era crimes including sadistic tooth extractions, human experiments, forced sterilizations and murder. A central professional body held a memorial ceremony in Berlin to honor victims and confront past atrocities. Studies reveal widespread complicity, including systematic removal and reuse or melting of gold crowns and fillings from camp corpses to benefit German patients and fund the war. High proportions of dentistry lecturers, professors and practitioners joined the Nazi party, with hundreds serving in the Waffen-SS and about 100 involved in stealing dental gold, selections and mistreatment. The profession now recognizes a responsibility to oppose antisemitism and exclusion.

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