German Dentists Confront Their Nazi-Era Crimes With Apology
For the first time, Germany’s leading dental organization has publicly acknowledged the profession’s widespread complicity in Nazi atrocities, from forced sterilizations and lethal experiments to the extraction of dental gold from concentration camp victims.
In a solemn ceremony at Berlin’s Humboldt University, the German Society for Dental, Oral and Orthodontic Medicine (DGZMK) issued a historic apology for the dental profession’s deep involvement in Nazi crimes. The acknowledgment exposed how German dentists not only served in concentration camps but also participated in acts of brutality, including tooth extractions without anesthesia, forced sterilizations, and selections determining life or death.
Research commissioned by the DGZMK revealed that more than half of Germany’s dentists during the Third Reich were members of the Nazi party, a higher percentage than physicians or teachers. Dentists were also responsible for extracting gold from corpses and even from living prisoners, with the materials used to fund the war effort or supply dental restorations for civilians. Despite the enormity of these crimes, most perpetrators faced little to no punishment after the war, resuming their careers without interruption.
The memorial ceremony also honored Jewish dentists who were persecuted or forced to flee Germany, many of whom rebuilt their lives and practices abroad. It marked the first time the DGZMK openly confronted its role in the Holocaust, following similar reckonings by German physicians more than a decade earlier. Click here to read more.
