Health workers in the Third Reich explored

The acts of nurses, midwives and doctors in the Third Reich were the focus of a recent free public lecture.

The presentation, delivered by professor Linda Shields from James Cook University, detailed the involvement of these health professionals in Nazi Germany and occupied Europe, how they came to be involved, and their accountability at the end of World War II.

Shields, who is also director of the tropical health research unit in the College of Healthcare Sciences and Townsville Hospital and Health Service, discussed the experiments in the concentration camps that some of these professionals were involved in.

Along with professor Susan Benedict from the University of Texas, Shields also recently released the book Nurses and Midwives in Nazi Germany: the 'euthanasia' programs.

In our interview, Shields details nurses’, midwives’ and doctors’ involvement in what she calls “some of the worst crimes against humanity that have ever occurred".

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