Apr 28, 2025
When history comes close
Prof.in Beate Mitzscherlich (Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau), Prof. Florian Bruns (TUD) und Dr. Hagen Schönrich (TUD) beleuchteten die dunklen Kapitel der Medizingeschichte und Wissenschaft im Nationalsozialismus.
The past speaks: The episode "Past, Responsibility, Vision" sheds light on the crimes committed against children during the Nazi era and their impact to this day.
More than 50 guests in the Kunstverein Dresden. One immediately senses that this is about more than just historical facts or dates. It's about a topic that creeps under your skin, that raises very personal questions.
In the live recording of the podcast "You ask – we explain" on April 16, history was not just talked about, it became tangible, alive and close. Because it was about what people take with them – not just in their heads, but also in their hearts.
The focus was on the traveling exhibition "In Memory of the Children", which documents the history of the so-called "children's special departments" under National Socialism. It is a story of over 5,000 children who were tortured and murdered in the name of a cruel ideology – and it is a story that still affects families today.
Like that of Prof. Dr. Beate Mitzscherlich, who not only sat on the podium as an ethicist, but also has a very personal connection: Her great-grandmother was murdered as part of the so-called "euthanasia" in Pirna-Sonnenstein – just a few kilometers from the gates of Dresden. Access to old health authority files made this connection visible. What otherwise sounds "historical" thus becomes ones own story.
Together with Prof. Dr. Florian Bruns and Dr. Hagen Schönrich, the discussion drew a line from the past to the present:
What does this knowledge do to us – as a society, as researchers, as people?
What responsibility do we have today to look at ethical issues in medicine and science with an open mind?
The atmosphere in the room: concentrated, open, moving. Questions from the audience could be submitted anonymously and were taken up directly.
The complete episode is available online:
"Past, Responsibility, Vision" - Episode 33
Exhibition reference:
"In memory of the children. Paediatricians and the crimes committed against children during the Nazi era"
April 29 to July 3, 2025
Dreikönigskirche – House of the Church, Hauptstraße 23, 01097 Dresden
Monday to Friday, 10 am - 6 pm
In cooperation with the Institute for the History of Medicine and the Clinic for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at TU Dresden, presented by the DGKJ.