From 1933 to 1945, medical scientists in Nazi Germany conducted horrific experiments on prisoners as part of their eugenic quest to create strong and “racially superior” humans.
Using the latest technology, and with few regulations, these doctors harvested unborn children, body parts, skeletons, and organs. At other times, they conducted mass sterilizations and intentionally injured or infected prisoners to test treatment options. Indeed, some of what we know about a woman’s reproductive system today is due to the detailed — and deadly — experiments Nazi Germany conducted on unwilling prisoners.
Adolf Hitler himself also oversaw the creation of Lebensborn, a German home devoted to caring for women and children of the “right” eugenic profile — light skin, blond hair, and blue eyes. With basic accommodations and health care covered, Hitler encouraged them to procreate as often as possible. In one unsettling image, children are shown sitting in front of a bright light as scientists try to lighten their skin and eye color. To Hitler’s dismay, neither the home nor his efforts to subsidize the government-preferred kind of children resulted in high birth rates.
Nazi Germany’s eugenic practices hang heavy in the minds of German lawmakers today. That’s one of the reasons Germany’s laws governing assisted reproductive technology are some of the best in the world. German law prohibits surrogacy-for-pay, bans egg donation, and governs in vitro fertilization (IVF) with the highest standard of medical care for both the mother and the embryonic child.
To avoid the creation of non-implanted embryos,
