Berthold Epstein

Berthold Epstein (1 April 1890 – 9 June 1962) was a pediatrician, professor, and scientist who was conscripted as a doctor in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.

Life and career

Berthold Epstein was born into a Jewish family in Pilsen in 1890. As an adult, he became professor and director at a children's clinic affiliated with the German Hospital in Prague, and married Ottilie née Eckstein.[1]

In reaction to the escalation of World War II, Epstein travelled to Norway on 15 March 1940. Accepted on the recommendation of the Norwegian pediatric association, he was also encouraged to apply for the position as the head of the pediatric clinic at Rikshospitalet. Epstein was among the small number of refugees licensed to practice medicine in Norway before the German invasion on 9 April.

The Nazi persecution of Jews put an end to his Norwegian pediatrics career,[2] and he instead conducted research on tuberculosis until his arrest on 27 October 1942. His arrest was followed by his deportation on the SS Donau on 26 November the same year.

Auschwitz

Having been deported from Norway to Third Reich-annexed Poland, Epstein was then transported to the Jewish Camp in Auschwitz. There, he was compelled to assist the notoriously unethical Josef Mengele with experiments concerning a possible treatment of noma, a deadly and disfiguring form of malnutrition-induced gangrene. About 3,000 people died due to this research, which included deliberately infecting healthy individuals.[3][4]

During Epstein's captivity as a physician at Auschwitz, members of his own family were among the camp's victims.[2] Several efforts were made—among others by Prince Carl of Sweden—to liberate Epstein from the camp, but none succeeded; and Epstein remained at the facility until the war's end.

Post war

Having survived the war, Epstein later testified in the Soviet war crimes trials on genocide. He lived in Prague for the remainder of his life, serving as chair of the city's Bulovka Hospital pediatric clinic from 1949 until his death in 1962, at the age of 72.[5]

Further reading
  • Stephan Heinrich Nolte, Vera Trnka: In the Gray Zones of History: The Prague Pediatrician Berthold Epstein (1890-1962). Hentrich & Hentrich, Leipzig 2023 ISBN 978-3-95565-555-6

References
  1. "Spørreskjema for jøder i Norge, Berthold Epstein" [Questionnaire for Jews in Norway]. Oslo: Riksarkivet. 1942-03-04. Archived from the original on 2011-10-02.
  2. Erlend Hem. "Jødiske pediatere på flukt" (in Norwegian). Tidsskriften for den norsle Lægeforening. Archived from the original on 2003-05-08. Retrieved 2008-01-17.
  3. Koren, Yehuda (2004). In Our Hearts We Were Giants: The Remarkable Story of the Lilliput Troupe-A Dwarf Family's Survival of the Holocaust. p. 92. ISBN 0-7867-1365-8.
  4. Lifton, Robert (1986). THE NAZI DOCTORS: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide. pp. 296–297. ISBN 978-0465049042.
  5. "75 let nemocnice na Bulovce" [75 years of Bulovka Hospital] (in Czech). Prague. 2006. Archived from the original on 2013-12-17.
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