Recent studies have exposed theft of gold fillings, excruciating extractions, human experiments and forced sterilisations
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.
“As a profession, we have a responsibility to learn from history and take a firm stand against all forms of antisemitism, exclusion and contempt for humanity,” DGZMK board chair Martin Hendges said at the event.
Studies commissioned by the medical community in recent years have begun to reveal the extent of dentists’ complicity under Adolf Hitler.
