1940: The SS Medical Academy in Graz

The task of the SS Medical Academy was to train ideologically indoctrinated doctors for the SS. Founded in Berlin in 1937 and relocated to Graz in 1940, the goal was to create an “ideal union of political soldier and doctor”. Students were housed at Rosenberggürtel 12 in Graz, where the military and ideological part of training took place. Their actual studies took place at the university as part of regular courses.

Graz students completed a part of their training at the Dachau concentration camp, where they abused inmates as training material. According to Ernst Klee, between the middle of May 1941 and the end of 1942, about 500 healthy inmates were operated on for training purposes by students or new graduates of the Graz Academy, many of whom died immediately or of complications later on. The SS Medical Academy also used the concentration camps of Mauthausen/Gusen and Buchenwald for acquiring study specimens.

In addition to SS doctors, SS dentists and SS pharmacists were also trained. In total, about 200 people studied at the academy, of which almost 20 completed their medical studies in Graz.

External Resources:

www.gedenkstaettesteinhof.at