Symposium on 'Reassessing Psychiatric Experiments and Coerced Research under National Socialism, 1933-1945: New Findings, Interpretations and Bioethical Problems'. (360G-Wellcome-101015_Z_13_Z)

Nazi Human experiments are iconic as among the worst atrocities of the Holocaust, and constitute a reference point in modern bioethics. A new scholarship is emerging, based on hitherto unavailable sources and the reappraisal of canonical interpretations. By looking at psychiatric experiments in clinical contexts, and research on bodies of executed euthanasia victims, a range of problematic fields are opening up. This symposium is thus timely. It aims to engage with problematic aspects of coe rced research that are unevenly documented. Among the issues to be addressed are: the rationales for research on psychiatric patients, victim responses and narratives; pharmacological testing; and brain anatomical research and the supply of body parts. It is important to evaluate major locations and victim groups in the light of new findings and testimonies. The symposium will also be an opportunity to consider ethical and methodological issues associated with conducting the historical research such as naming victims, defining the parameters of criminal experiments and the appropriate terminology and concepts. The sessions will take the form of exploratory papers and round table discussions.