Karl Brandt was a German doctor who was Adolf Hitler’s personal doctor and the top doctor in the Nazi government. He was a powerful person in Nazi Germany, and he was in charge of the Aktion T4 euthanasia program, which killed 70,273 people at hospitals in Germany and Austria. Brandt was born the son of a Prussian Army officer. As a young man, he was very smart and became a medical doctor and surgeon. He was once called to help Hitler’s right-hand man after he was hurt in a car accident. Hitler was so impressed by the young doctor that he asked him to be his personal doctor. The ambitious doctor was so good at getting Hitler to trust him that, as time went on, he became more and more important in Nazi Germany. Hitler chose Brandt to run the program of forced euthanasia he planned to use to get rid of the people he thought were useless. Over the course of two years, he planned the deaths of thousands of people and used civilians and prisoners of war in cruel medical experiments. Soon after the end of World War II, he fell from power. A U.S. military court found that he had committed war crimes and sentenced him to death.
Early years and childhood
Karl Brandt was born in Mulhouse, Alsace-Lorraine, on January 8, 1904. His father was an officer in the Prussian Army.
As a boy, he was smart and worked hard. When he grew up, he became a doctor and surgeon, specializing in head and spinal injuries.
A Years After
As a young man with big plans, he joined the Nazi Party in January 1932. A few months later, Adolf Hitler sent for him to treat one of his assistants, Wilhelm Bruckner, who had been hurt in a car crash.
Brandt was a good doctor, and he took care of Bruckner’s wounds well. Hitler thought the doctor was very smart and asked him to join his team of personal doctors.
In 1933, he joined the Sturmabteilung (SA), which was the Nazi Party’s first paramilitary group. The following year, he joined the Schutzstaffel (SS), which was a major paramilitary group under Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Soon, he was able to win over Hitler, and he was given the officer rank of Untersturmführer.
Gesetz zur Verhütung erbkranken Nachwuchses (Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Sick Children) was passed by the Nazis in 1933. Brandt became one of the most famous doctors who, because of the law, forced abortions on a large number of women who were thought to have genetic disorders, mental or physical disabilities, or be of a different race.
The Nazi leader liked Brandt’s writings, so in 1934, he made him Hitler’s “Escort Physician.” He was also put in charge of carrying out the Law for the Protection of Hereditary Health, which was used to force people to get sterilized.
Hitler put Brandt and Philipp Bouhler in charge of the T4 program to kill people in 1939. In hospitals and nursing homes, people who were deformed, disabled, mentally ill, or had a disease that could not be cured were killed by gas or lethal injections as part of the forced euthanasia program. A baby boy born with birth defects was the first person to be killed under the program.
Under the plan, German doctors were told to write that a patient was “incurably sick” after a careful medical exam and then give them a “mercy death.” Officially, the program started in September 1939 and went on until August 1941. During that time, at least 70,273 people were killed at hospitals and asylums in Germany and Austria.
Hitler gave Brandt even more power in 1942 when he made him Commissioner of Sanitation and Health (Bevollmächtigter für das Sanitats- und Gesundheitswesen). With this new job, Brandt became the most powerful doctor in Nazi Germany.
After more promotions, Brandt was an SS-Gruppenführer in the Allgemeine-SS and an SS-Brigadeführer in the Waffen-SS by April 1944.
But when he moved his family out of Berlin, he made Hitler very angry. Hitler thought Brandt was going to give up on the Allies, so he had the Gestapo arrest him.
He was about to be killed when Admiral Doenitz stepped in at the right time and saved his life.
After the war was over, the Allied forces took him into custody and put him on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
His Major Crimes
He was a very important part of the Nazi program that forced abortions on thousands of pregnant women who the Nazis thought were “genetically defective.” He was also a big reason why people were forced to get sterilized.
He was in charge of the Aktion T4 euthanasia program, which Hitler gave Karl Brandt permission to use on civilians who were thought to be too sick to live. During a two-year period, tens of thousands of men, women, and children were killed in a cruel way, and many more were used in cruel medical experiments.
Personal History and Legacies
In 1934, swimmer Anni Reborn, who was married to Karl Brandt, became his wife. The next year, they had a son named Karl Adolf Brandt.
After he was arrested, he was tried along with 22 other people in a case called “United States of America v. Karl Brandt et al.” or “Doctors’ Trial” by most people.
He was put on trial for many things, such as crimes against humanity, and war crimes, and is a member of a criminal group. He was found guilty and given a death sentence by hanging. On June 2, 1948, he was put to death at Landsberg Prison.
Estimated Net worth
Karl Brandt’s estimated net worth is $2 million, and he gets most of his money from being a politician and a surgeon. We don’t know enough about Karl Brandt’s cars or about his life.