Doctors' Trial

Doctors' Trial is the second of the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials. In this trial, 23 physicians and administrators, accused of organizing and participating in war crimes and crimes against humanity, were brought to trial. The trial is most notable for the judgment which resulted in the creation of the Nuremberg Code.

Background

The Doctors' Trial (German: Ärzteprozess), officially titled United States of America vs. Karl Brandt, et al., was the first of 12 trials for war crimes that the United States authorities held in their occupation zone in Nuremberg, Germany, after the end of World War II. These trials were held before US military courts, not before the International Military Tribunal, but took place in the same rooms at the Palace of Justice. The trials are collectively known as the "Subsequent Nuremberg Trials", formally the "Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals" (NMT).

Defendants and Verdicts

Twenty of the 23 defendants were medical doctors (Viktor Brack, Rudolf Brandt, and Wolfram Sievers were Nazi officials), and were accused of having been involved in Nazi human experimentation and mass murder under the guise of euthanasia. The accused faced charges under the "Nuremberg Code" for their roles in conducting medical experiments on concentration camp inmates.

The Nuremberg Code

The verdict of August 20, 1947, delivered the "Nuremberg Code", which set the guidelines for the ethical conduct of medical research and is considered a landmark document in the history of clinical research ethics.

See Also

• Nuremberg Trials
• Nuremberg Code
• Nazi human experimentation
• World War II
• Subsequent Nuremberg Trials

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