Heinrich Gross

Heinrich Gross (14 November 1915 – 15 December 2005) was an Austrian psychiatrist, medical doctor and neurologist, a reputed expert as a leading court-appointed psychiatrist, ill-famed for his proven involvement in the killing of at least nine children with physical, mental and/or emotional/behavioral characteristics considered "unclean" by the Nazi regime, under its Euthanasia Program. His role in hundreds of other cases of infanticide is unclear. Gross was head of the Spiegelgrund children's psychiatric clinic for two years during World War II.^[1]

A significant element of the controversy surrounding Gross' activities is that after the children had been murdered, parts of their bodies, particularly their brains, were preserved and retained for future study for decades after the murders. It was only on 28 April 2002 that the preserved remains of these murdered children were finally buried.

Euthanasia programme

The Euthanasia Programme at Am Spiegelgrund clinic, Vienna, where Gross was a leading doctor, was intended by the Nazis to research eugenics and accomplish elimination of those individuals considered by the regime to constitute life unworthy of life.

There were at least two criminal actions brought against Gross for his alleged role in these atrocities against children, one a few years after the end of World War II which resulted in a conviction for manslaughter, which was later overturned on a technicality. A more recent attempt to convict Gross for his involvement in the murders of nine of the children was indefinitely suspended due to a successful claim that, due to his advanced age and alleged senility, Gross was unfit to stand trial.^[2] However, many dispute this claim, since he gave an interview at a coffeehouse shortly after he was found unfit to stand trial, which many submit as evidence that he was in fact, mentally sound and able to understand the charges against him and participate in his defense.

Finally, his Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class (awarded in 1975^[3]) was stripped in 2003.

Gross' ability to avoid being found criminally liable for the murders he was accused to be involved in may reflect a combination of luck and political connections, more than a bona fide lack of guilt in this crime. He had been captured by the Soviet army following the war, and thus was unavailable to be tried at Nuremberg, where others involved in the program were punished. The favorable outcomes he enjoyed at his two criminal trials may reflect that, since he was regularly used by the Austrian courts to provide psychological profiles of criminal defendants and to opine on their ability to stand trial (which examinations were revealed by a documentary to have been conducted at an average rate of twice a working day, shedding doubt upon their objectivity and the validity of the opinions expressed),^[4] that he perhaps received treatment that could be characterized as preferential or biased in his favor.

References

External links

• Gross symbolises Austria's past
• BBC News Online: World: Europe
• Life unworthy of life and other Medical Killing Programmes
• Doc accused of Nazi clinic atrocities dies
• Florian P. Thomas, Alana Beres, and Michael I. Shevell "A Cold Wind Coming": Heinrich Gross and Child Euthanasia in Vienna. J Child Neurol 2006 21: 342-348.