Overview

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? The Nazi Symbiosis offers a nuanced account of the myriad ways human heredity and Nazi politics reinforced each other before and during the Third Reich. Exploring the ethical and professional consequences for the scientists involved as well as the political ramifications for Nazi racial policies, Sheila Faith Weiss places genetics and eugenics in their larger international context. In questioning whether the motives that propelled German geneticists were different from the compromises that researchers from other countries and eras face, Weiss extends her argument into our modern moment, as we confront the promises and perils of genomic medicine today.

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9780226891767

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Sheila Weiss shows how German geneticists enhanced their careers through research agendas that both advanced and benefited from the Nazi state's criminal aims. A frightening study of the politics of genetic science under Hitler. - Norman J. W. Goda, University of Florida

Author Information

Sheila Faith Weiss is professor of history at Clarkson University and the author of Race Hygiene and National Efficiency: The Eugenics of Wilhelm Schallmayer.

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