Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race

Visit the exhibition:

February 3 - April 13, 2012

University of Michigan
Taubman Health Sciences Library - 4th Floor
1135 E. Catherine St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109
The exhibition can be viewed during library hours.

For questions call 734.936.1394

Opening Reception

Thursday, February 9th 
5:30-6:30pm 
Taubman Health Sciences Library - 4th Floor

Join us for refreshments and a tour of the exhibition. The keynote address and book signing will immediately follow the reception.

Keynote Address: “The Legacy of American Eugenics: Buck v. Bell in the Supreme Court”

Thursday, February 9th
6:45-8:00pm
A. Alfred Taubman Biomedical Research Science Building
Kahn Auditorium
109 Zina Pitcher Place
Ann Arbor, MI

The Holocaust Memorial Museum Exhibit "Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race" includes a segment on Buck v. Bell, the 1927 United States Supreme Court case that endorsed state laws mandating the eugenic sterilization of "feebleminded" and "socially inadequate" people in state institutions. That case and the laws that it validated preceded the 1934 Nazi law for sterilizing the 'hereditarily diseased" under which more than 400,000 operations occurred in Nazi Germany. Professor Lombardo will discuss details of the Buck case, and how it became one of the symbolic high points for the eugenic movement in the United States.

Paul A. Lombardo holds the Bobby Lee Cook Chair as Professor of Law at Georgia State University in Atlanta. He currently serves as a Senior Advisor to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, in Washington, D.C. He was a contributor and consultant for the original 2004 installation of the U.S. Memorial Holocaust Museum Exhibit, Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race.

Common Language Bookstore will sell copies of Dr. Lombardo’s most recent book, “A Century of Eugenics in America,” for signing at the end of the talk.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Presentation 

Friday, March 9th
7:00-8:30pm
Ann Arbor District Library - Downtown Library
343 S. Fifth Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 

An informative presentation by The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in conjunction with their traveling exhibition, Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race (now on display at the UM Taubman Health Sciences Library through April 13).Dr. Dieter Kuntz, historian at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, in Washington, DC, will discuss the theme of the exhibit, which illustrates how Nazi leadership enlisted people in professions traditionally charged with healing and the public good to legitimize persecution, murder, and ultimately genocide.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Teacher Session

Saturday, March 10th
8:00am-4:00pm 
Taubman Health Sciences Library - 2nd Floor
1135 E. Catherine St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

The workshop is free of charge to middle and high school teachers and includes books and teaching resources from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. A continental breakfast and lunch will be provided. Teachers will also visit the Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race exhibition, on display at the Taubman Health Sciences Library.

Please visit http://www.cvent.com/d/rcq9hv to register for this session. Space is limited.

Panel Discussion: Reflections 

Thursday, March 29th
3:00-5:00pm
A. Alfred Taubman Biomedical Research Science Building
Seminar Rooms A, B, C

A distinguished panel of speakers will share personal experiences and scholarly knowledge of eugenics in Nazi Germany. This panel provides an opportunity to reflect on the past, and discuss the implications of the exhibition Deadly Medicine to memory, medical practice, and genetic medicine today.

Sabine Hildebrandt, M.D. (Moderator) Dr. Hildebrandt is a lecturer in anatomy at the University of Michigan Medical School with a research interest in the history of anatomy in National Socialist Germany. Her publications in this area have contributed to the creation of the first German symposium on anatomy in National Socialism in 2010. She is currently investigating the fates of victims of anatomy in the Third Reich and teaches courses on the subject.

Martin LöwenbergMr. Löwenberg has been a Holocaust educator for more than 25 years. A regular speaker at the Holocaust Memorial Center as well as at community functions and schools, he frequently travels throughout the state of Michigan to give lectures for Holocaust education. In 2006, Mr. Löwenberg was honored by the Program for Holocaust Survivors and Families for his dedication to Holocaust education and remembrance.

Emanuel Tanay, M.D.Dr. Emanuel Tanay is a forensic psychiatrist and a survivor of the Holocaust. He is the author of Passport to Life: Autobiographical Reflections on the Holocaust and Legal Injustice: Behind the Scences with an Expert Witness. Dr. Tanay has also received the Golden Apple Award for contributions to the American Academy for Psychiatry and the Law.

Geoff Eley, Ph.D.Professor Geoff Eley is Chair of the History Department at the University of Michigan and the Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History. Professor Eley has published numerous articles and books on German history of the 19th and 20th centuries. His recent books include: A Crooked Line: From Cultural History to the History of Society and Forging Democracy: The History of the Left in Europe, 1850-2000.

Sharon L.R. Kardia, Ph.D.Dr. Kardia is Professor and Chair of the University of Michigan's Department of Epidemiology and Director of the Public Health Genetics Program in the School of Public Health. Her main research interests are the genetic epidemiology of cardiovascular disease and its risk factors. She is particularly interested in gene-environment and gene-gene interactions and in strategies to understand the complex relationship between genetic variation, environmental variation, and risk of common chronic diseases.

The exhibition installation and related events are generously cosponsored by the Medical School Dean's Office, Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine, Center for International and Comparative Studies, Institute for the Humanities, Department of Medical Education: Division of Anatomical Sciences, History Department, Jean & Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, Germanic Languages and Literatures, Program in Science, Technology and Society, Genetic Counseling Program, and Department of Human Genetics.