The problematic legacy of victim specimens from the Nazi era: Identifying the persons behind the specimens at the Max Planck Institutes for Brain Research and of Psychiatry

Highlights • Human experiments were more extensive than often assumed with a minimum of 15,750 documented victims. • Experiments rapidly increased from 1942, reaching a high point in 1943 and sustained until the end of the war. • There were more victims who survived than were killed as part of or as a result of the experiments. Many survived with severe injuries. • Victims came from diverse nationalities with Poles (Jews and Roman Catholics) as the largest national cohort. • Body parts, especially from euthanasia killings, were often retained for research and teaching after 1945. Show more