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Pediatricians in Nazi Vienna, Part 1: the victims

Pediatric Research volume 95, pages 400–402 (2024)Cite this article

Pediatricians under Nazi rule were both victims and perpetrators of brutal acts.1 The Nazi impact on pediatrics was particularly striking in Vienna due to long-standing antisemitism in hiring and promoting pediatricians and other physicians; a high proportion of Jewish doctors, including pediatricians; the abrupt introduction of persecution that was introduced over 5 years in Germany; the unprecedented loss of University of Vienna faculty, including two-thirds of its pediatric department; high physician membership in the Nazi Party; and the Vienna location of Spiegelgrund, the second largest child killing center, supported and directed by Nazi pediatricians. This review summarizes the impact of antisemitism on Vienna’s pediatrician victims before and after the Nazi occupation. A subsequent article will focus on the perpetrators.

Prior to World War I, the Austria–Hungarian Empire witnessed increasing antisemitism, continuing after the war through the First Austrian Republic.2 Antisemitism and right-wing extremism rose among students, faculty and administrators at the University of Vienna throughout the interwar period, with violent attacks against Jewish students,3 yet opportunities for Jewish doctors were still available during this time. In 1910, half of the medical faculty at the University had Jewish ancestry, as did half of the practicing physicians in Vienna from 1880 to 1936.4

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Fig. 1: Street-washing Jew, by Alfred Hrdlicka, 1988 (photo by author).
Fig. 2

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  1. Department of Pediatrics, Atrium Health, Charlotte, NC, USA

    Daniel R. Neuspiel

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  1. Daniel R. Neuspiel
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D.R.N. was the sole contributor of the inspiration, planning, research and composition of this manuscript.

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Correspondence to Daniel R. Neuspiel.

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Neuspiel, D.R. Pediatricians in Nazi Vienna, Part 1: the victims. Pediatr Res 95, 400–402 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-023-02801-0

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