Masters of Life and Death - Medicine in the Third Reich

This three part documentary examines the social and scientific history behind medical practice under the National Socialist regime. What prompted doctors to stop serving humanity and devote their services to a nationalist-racist ”ideal”, to conduct unscrupulous experiments on human beings and to take part in the murder of hundreds of thousands of the ill and infirm?

Rare historical footage of the Nuremberg medical trial, broadcast recordings, statements from medical historians, the testimony of eyewitnesses and other contemporaries, as well as re-enactments at original locations together form the documentary background for this first comprehensive investigation of medical crimes committed under the banner of the Third Reich.

Part 1: Racial Fanaticism
Part 2: Deadly Reforms
Part 3: Selection

3 x 45’ / 3 x 52’
ZDF/ ZDF-E / Mediaset / France 5