Documentary Review- Hitler’s Biological Soldiers
Key insights into Ideology of Fascism

Fascism sees itself as a creative force (Heywood, p. 215). In Germany, the
Nazi set themselves the task not of creating the new Aryan man and
woman but also of transforming and coopting German society so it served
the ideological dictums of National Socialism.
The specific political doctrine that the Nazi’s instituted mandated the creation of
a new Aryan man and woman. As part of the new exclusive community that
National Socialism would create, a ‘New Man’ would also be created (Overy,
2004, p. 242). Hitler dreamt up characteristics he thought befitting this new
“god-man” (Overy, 2004, p. 242). To drive this creation the regime corrupted
ideas of Social Darwinism and started policies of eugenics and euthanasia. The
elimination of “life unworthy of life” was intended to purify the racial gene pool
of the German population ensuring the Nazi’s vision of an Aryan super race. This
purification or racial hygiene was based on the idea of social control (Cornwell,
2003, p. 76) via the promoting of one racial group overs others.
Those who shared in the Nazi’s vision of a racially pure future included large
parts of the German medical profession, for whom the notion of racial hygiene
had been in vogue in Germany since the 1860s (Cornwell, 2003, p. 78). Willingly
selected by the Nazi’s, the dream of pushing medical boundaries was linked with
the desire to see their theories of Germanic superiority come true. However for
the Nazi’s and their willing doctors to put their policies into action, they would
need to engineer the replacement of the Jewish senior doctors with their own. To
this end, health clinics were closed down in 1933 resulting in the fleeing of many
Jewish doctors (Evans, 2003, p. 377). With the medical profession being
transformed the Nazi’s enacted legislation to facilitate some of the worst
excesses of the Nazi regime.
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
Fascism is also very strongly link to the exercise of authority. (Heywood,
1998, p. 219). Fascist leaders such as Hitler see the population as weak
and therefore need a strong leader to guide and control them.
The highly regarded medical profession was coopted by the Nazi’s and became,
as the documentary claims, key drivers of the biological revolution. The doctors
were in place to deliver a state sanctioned invasion of privacy.
Legislation was passed after the Nazi seizure of power that changed German
society and cemented doctors near the top of the Nazi power structure. The
social control mentioned earlier was driven by the introduction of laws such as
the Law of the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring of 1933 the
Marriage Law of 1938 (Evans, 2006, 510; 520). The Reich Physicians Ordinance
of 1935 had far reaching implications for the Third Reich to fully implement its
eugenics policies. The only way for the regime to target the unfit was to have
doctors pass along the patient’s medical information. Of course, doctor patient
confidentiality had formed the cornerstone of trust in the medical profession.
The trust however was about to collapse as doctors were now compelled to
divulge medical secrets. This was on the basis on a clause in the legislation stated
that a medical history could be laid bare “if the people demanded it” (Kater,
1989, p. 38). The people in this case, of course, were interpreted to mean the
state. The German medical profession was, then, realigned to become a
microcosm of the larger Nazi sociopolitical system governed by the Nazi
leadership principle.

Fascism can be linked to the development of ‘vitalism’ (Heywood, 1998,
p. 217).
This belief, as practiced by the Nazi’s in Germany can be understood simply as a
large emphasis on physical education. This education in the “cult of the body”
(Heywood, 1998, p. 217) was necessary to create individuals with a “true
connection to the community” (Stackelberg, 1999, p. 111. The image of German
youth engaged in physical exercise is an enduring one. The Nazi understood that
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the creation of the Aryan race could not just come from a state that demoted its
inferior racial stock but “promoted its best racial stock” (Overy, 2004, 244)
Vitalism, then, can be understood as ‘positive eugenics’

Fascism sees itself as a movement that is anti-rationalist (Heywood, 1998,
p. 216). That is, a fascist state such as Nazi Germany would reject
intellectual life and academic inquiry and therefore base its education
system on indoctrination.
As part of the effort to secure the population’s loyalty, The Nazi’s supplanted
pre-Nazi curriculum and instead students were taught racial biology and
eugenics at schools and universities (Stackelberg, 1999, p. 132). Not only did
education function as indoctrination centres but also as centres of social
control. Student’s medical histories were used against them as weapons
(Overy, 2004, p. 245)
Key insights into the leadership of Hitler

Hitler’s racial views rested on the supremacy of the Aryan race. The
creation of this race out of the existing German population needed
therefore for the population to be healthy, thus Hitler took personal
involvement in the creation of this racial purity.
According to the documentary Hitler was personally informed when a
handicapped child had been born and escalated the sterilization program to a
eugenics program by having his personal doctor murder the first child.
Moreover, Hitler formed the Reich Committee to decide which children to kill.
Friedlander (1995, p. 40) argues that Hitler decided to put his personal
Chancellery office in charge of the eugenics program. Therefore, this section
places Hitler’s leadership in the intentionalist camp. Further to this, Hitler not
only play a key role in the decision making but he also showed political savvy by
insuring that the activities of the Reich Committee were conducted in secret as
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he was unsure of the support the euthanasia policy would receive at the time
(Friedlander, 1995, p.40)
Key insights into the impact of the regime on its population

The documentary demonstrates the powerful effect that a utopian
ideology had on various sections of society but also the limits.
In a totalitarian dictatorship such as Nazism, the relationship the general
population has with the state can be questioned. This documentary provides us
with such an opportunity. The unique relationship that exists normally between
doctors and patients was subverted in the Nazi’s quest to weed out hereditary
illness. The medical profession was persuaded to abandon its Hippocratic oath
and ignore what the profession knew about hereditary nature of certain illnesses
The Nazi control of the medical profession led to public fear of a doctor ‘s office
(Kater, 1989, p. 237). So the issue is can the population trust the advice and
information they are receiving from professionals who may be under the orders
from the regime.

Perpetrators
Although, Stackelberg notes, the vast majority of doctors were under no
compulsion to join the party, almost 50% eventually did. (1999, p. 111).
Naturally the Nazi’s would not have been averse to simply coercing doctors to
bend to its will. But for a more nuanced we must examine the motivations of the
doctors in the Nazi regime more closely and what it reveals is the realisation that
Nazi doctors often submitted to the will of the Party for of very human and
relatable reasons.
Already we have seen how the Nazi engineered the expulsion of senior Jewish
doctors leaving positions open for young eager German doctors to take their
place. This gave the Nazi regime both young professionals who were grateful for
work but also minds imbued with a deep sense of German superiority. The
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support of the Nazi’s, then, was based both on the “crass self interest” in a job
opportunity (Kater, 1989, p. 84) and an “opportunity to scientific speculation
into iron reality (Overy, 2004, p. 250). For certification by particular professional
medical boards and hence to have the ability to work in their chosen field, a
doctor was required to produce a spotless National Socialist record.
For the ambitious doctor joining the elite SS it represents a similar
interpretation. Linton (cited in Kater 2002, p. 82) writes “For the SS doctor death
assumed a more versatile quality…in a society whose leaders were in the
business of not only saving patients…but also inflicting death at will, doctors,
could command even more respect.”

German Public
The impact of the general German population needs to be addressed. What was
their support for the policies and did that support wavier when faced with the
realities of murdering men women and children? Responses to the regime
existed somewhere along a scale ranging from compliance to overt resistance
(Overy, 2004, p. 305). It goes without saying that the vast majority of parents
and relatives of victims were strongly opposed to the killings. However, in
perverse instances, the racial promise that the National Socialism offered
outweighed the biological instinct of a parent. (Friedlander, 1995, 60) So while
there may have been opposition in certain sectors of the population, there was
not enough to for the regime to reverse the policies. So what insights can we
draw from this fact? Overy (2004, p. 348) writes the regime offered a stark
choice between inclusion by complying and exclusion through opposition; faced
with that choice most people chose compliance.
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References:
Cornwell, J. (2003). Hitler’s Scientists. London: Viking
Evans. R. (2003). The Coming of the Third Reich. New York: Penguin Press
Evans. R. (2006). The Third Reich in Power. New York: Penguin Press
Friedlander H (1995). The Origins of Nazi Genocide. Chapel Hill: University of
North Carolina Press
Heywood, A. (1998). Political Ideologies. Hampshire: MacMillan Press
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Kater, M (1989). Doctors under Hitler. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press
Kater, M (2002).Criminal Physicians in the Third Reich. In F Nicosia & J Huener
(eds), Medicine and Medical Ethics in Nazi Germany (pp.77-92). Oxford:
Berghahn Books
Overy, R. (2004). The Dictators. London: Peguin Books
Stackelberg, R. (1999). Hitler’s Germany: Origins, Interpretations and Legacy.
Routledge: New York
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