An old legend and a new legacy -- Human heredity and eugenics make their international debut -- The devil's directors at Dahlem -- The Munich pact -- The politics of professional talk -- Politicized pedagogy -- The international human genetics community faces Nazi Germany -- The road not taken elsewhere : was there something unique about human heredity during the Third Reich?
Summary
The Faustian bargain--in which an individual or group collaborates with an evil entity in order to obtain knowledge, power, or material gain--is perhaps best exemplified by the alliance between world-renowned human geneticists and the Nazi state. Under the swastika, German scientists descended into the moral abyss, perpetrating heinous medical crimes at Auschwitz and at euthanasia hospitals. But why did biomedical researchers accept such a bargain?
