A leading medical school seriously damaged: Vienna 1938. Ann Intern Med

• Misguided by the notion that the decline of the German race would be prevented by purifying "Aryan blood " and eliminating foreign, particularly Jewish, influences, the Nazis evicted all Jews from universities within their growing empire during the Third Reich. The Medical Faculty of Vienna suffered more than any other European faculty from "race hygiene. " Within weeks of the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938, 153 of the Faculty's 197 members were dismissed. By far the most frequent reason for dismissal was Jewish origin. Most victims managed to emigrate, many died in con-centration camps, and others committed suicide. The "cleansing " process encountered little resistance, and the vacant posts were quickly filled with persons known not for their medical expertise but for their political trustworthiness. It was in this climate that medical atrocities could be committed. After the collapse of the Third Reich, most members of the Faculty were bur-dened with a Nazi past. Most remained in office, and those who had to leave were reinstituted swiftly. The Jews evicted in 1938 were discouraged from returning. These events have significantly—and with long-lasting effects—damaged the quality of a once-leading medi-cal school. This story needs to be told to honor its victims and to fortify us so that history does not repeat itself. Ann Intern Med. 1995;122:789-792. Many European universities suffered intensely during the Third Reich, and, almost without exception, Jewish university staff were dismissed after the Nazi takeover. However, no single faculty was harmed more than the Medical Faculty of Vienna. The damage done to the Faculty in 1938 differed from that effected elsewhere in the Third Reich in at least three important ways: The losses caused by the eviction of Jews and other unwanted groups were greater than anywhere else; the sequelae of the events turned out to be particularly long-lasting; and the tragedy has almost totally escaped attention in the international medical literature. This paper attempts to summarize "the darkest chapter in the history of th