Brain Research at Institutes of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in the Context of National Socialist Injustices:

During the era of National Socialism, scientists at the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft, hereafter KWG) – the predecessor of today's Max Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, hereafter MPG) – in many instances conducted unethical research without the consent of the individuals concerned. In the field of brain research, specimens were collected from victims of the so-called "euthanasia" programs (systematic murder campaigns by the regime against people with mental disabilities and psychiatric illnesses), forced labourers, prisoners of war, people executed by the regime, and civilians from German occupied countries. Some of these brain samples continued to be used for research and teaching purposes long after the end of the Nazi regime in 1945. At least until the 1960s, such specimens remained in circulation, with little or no scrutiny of their origins, and some were discovered to have remained in collections as late as 2025.

First Efforts at Confronting the Past

Public attention was first drawn to the issue in the 1980s through the work of historian and journalist Götz Aly. He uncovered that numerous brain specimens originated from victims of the Nazi "euthanasia" programs. In response, the Max Planck Society decided in 1989 to bury specimens from the National Socialist period known or suspected to originate from victims of Nazi persecution. In 1990, around 700 brain samples – many obtained through KWG neuroscientists Julius Hallervorden (1882–1965) and Hugo Spatz (1888–1969) – were interred at the Waldfriedhof (cemetery) in Munich. However, this was done without attempting a systematic identification of the victims.

New Discoveries and Open Questions

In 2015, it became known that not all specimens had been recovered and buried in 1990. Around 100 brain sections from 1938 onward, stemming from Julius Hallervorden's collection, had only been transferred from his former institute to the MPG archive in 2001 and were rediscovered in Berlin-Dahlem in 2015. Additional specimens were found in 2016 in the archive of the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich – some of which had already been flagged as suspicious in the 1990s. These findings raised fundamental questions: Are there still undiscovered specimens from the National Socialist era in MPG institutes or archives? Who were the individuals whose brains were collected and studied? Can their identities be reconstructed? How were the samples used after the deaths of the corresponding victims – within the KWG, the MPG, and in scientific publications?

Project Goals and Research Approach

To address these questions, an independent research project – funded by the Max Planck Society – was launched in 2017. It investigated the origins and uses of brain specimens collected in the context of National Socialist injustices. The study included crime sites such as psychiatric and general hospitals, forced labour camps, prisoner-of-war camps, prisons, and concentration camps. The project aimed to identify victims and to reconstruct their biographies, analyse scientific practices and networks, and lay the groundwork for historically informed and ethically responsible forms of remembrance.

Given the sensitivity of the subject matter, the research design and methodology required careful consideration of numerous complex ethical questions – for instance, regarding the assessment of who was to be considered a victim of Nazi persecution. Detailed discussions of these issues can be found in the accompanying PDF documents provided at the end of this text.

Project Design, Management, and Research Teams

The project was conceptualized and set up by Gerrit Hohendorf (Technical University of Munich), Volker Roelcke (Giessen University), and Paul J. Weindling (Oxford Brookes University). It ran until 2024 (with a finalization phase until June 2026), and was led by Paul J. Weindling ML (Oxford Brookes University), Herwig Czech (Medical University of Vienna), the late Gerrit Hohendorf (Technical University of Munich), Philipp Rauh (from 2021, Technical University of Munich, as successor to Gerrit Hohendorf) and Volker Roelcke ML (Giessen University), in cooperation with Patricia Heberer Rice (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).

The project was organized in several administratively separate sub-projects or research groups:

The research group at Medical University of Vienna (in cooperation with Charité Berlin), led by Herwig Czech, focused primarily on the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research in Berlin and the Genealogical-Demographic Department of the German Research Institute for Psychiatry in Munich. The following researchers were part of this team:

• Axel C. Hüntelmann (September 2018 to June 2026)
• Elisabeth Kraul (December 2019 to June 2026)
• Paul Kuglitsch (January 2020 to June 2026)
• Uwe Kaminsky (October 2021 to June 2026)
• Annette Hinz-Wessels (July 2017 to August 2018)
• Marion Zingler (July 2017 to July 2019)
• Wolfgang Rose (March 2019 to October 2020)
• Claus Bukowsky (April 2019 to October 2020)
• Judith Hahn (September 2019 to February 2021)

The group at TU Munich, led originally by the late Gerrit Hohendorf, with Philipp Rauh as successor, concentrated on the German Research Institute for Psychiatry (now the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry) in Munich. The following researchers were part of the Munich project team:

• Stephanie Neuner (July 2017 to December 2018)
• Annemarie Kinzelbach (March 2018 to August 2019)
• Max Buschmann (March 2021 to June 2026)
• Moritz Laeger (April 2018 to June 2026)
• Jasmin Kindel (July 2017 to March 2022, student assistant)
• Valeri Heinrich (June 2022 to June 2026, student assistant)
• Johannes Gerstein (2022 to June 2026, student assistant)

The Oxford Brookes group, led by Paul Weindling, focused on additional groups of victims of unethical biomedical research under National Socialism. These researchers were responsible here:

• Aleksandra Loewenau (July 2017 to December 2020)
• Michał Palacz (July 2017 to December 2025)
• Aisling Shalvey (May 2021 to October 2024)

The team at the Leopoldina Centre for Science Studies in Halle was responsible for central database management and the design of this website. In Halle, the following people have contributed to the project:

• Lisa M. Gottschall (November 2024 to May 2025)
• Salina Grünwald (August 2019 to July 2025)
• Aleksandra Loewenau (July 2017 to December 2020)
• Oliver Mahrle (July 2020 to July 2025)
• Aisling Shalvey (May 2021 to October 2024)

Downloads and Publications

For a detailed account of the research design, methodology, and ethical considerations, please refer to the following PDF documents:

Research Group Oxford Brookes
Research Groups Berlin, Munich and Vienna

Memorial publications and monographs presenting the research outcomes are scheduled for publication in both print and open access formats in June 2026.