In November of 1946, Karl Brandt, the personal physician of Adolf Hitler, along with dozens of other doctors of the Nazi regime were on trial in Nuremberg, Germany. They were charged with crimes against humanity for practicing barbaric medical procedures on human subjects that ultimately led to the death of an estimated 300,000 people during the Second World War.
In their defense, Brandt and his cohorts cited a report published by a small facility in Cold Spring Harbor, New York which called for the forced sterilization of 15 million Americans who were arbitrarily deemed to be “defective.” The defendants also cited a 1927 U.S. Supreme Court case which overwhelmingly upheld the forced sterilization of a young woman in the state of Virginia.
What direct connection could have existed between the murderous Nazi regime, the highest court of the United States and a small facility on Long Island? That connection was eugenics: the pseudo-science that was premised upon the racist, classist and misguided belief that mental, physical, developmental and behavioral traits of human beings can be improved through “better breeding.” It also called for the elimination of millions of Americans who were deemed unfit by means of mass segregation, sterilization and even euthanasia.
Author Mark Torres will present this topic based on his new book “Long Island and the Legacy of Eugenics: Station of Intolerance,” as he explores the local origins, characters, influences, methodologies and ghastly consequences all of which emanated from this small Long Island facility for more than three decades and spread throughout the entire world.
The “Long Island and the Legacy of Eugenics” lecture will be at the Great Neck Library, 159 Bayview Ave. in Great Neck, on Wednesday, May 28, at 2 p.m.
Registration is not required. For more information, please contact Great Neck Library at (516) 466-8055 or email adultprogramming@greatnecklibrary.org.
