The “final solution” to the “Jewish problem” was decided at the infamous Wannsee Conference held in the exclusive Berlin suburb of Wannsee on January 20, 1942. Of the fifteen high-level Nazis in attendance, eight held a doctorate degree and several were lawyers.53 The “final solution” they unanimously agreed on was to exterminate all Jews (a definition they had a difficult time deciding on) in Europe, mostly by use of gas chambers or to work them to death.
So many university professors and academics took part in the Holocaust that a separate war crimes trial called the “Doctors’ Trial” was held for them in 1946. Of the twenty-three on trial, out of an estimated 400 doctors that “committed medical infractions in concentration camps and ‘euthanasia’ stations,” only a mere twenty physicians were in the end charged with having initiated, directed, and organized crimes against prisoners.54 These were the worst of the 400 and those against whom clear evidence existed, which could be used at the trial. The trial lasted from December 9, 1946 to July 3, 1947, and sixteen doctors were found guilty and sentenced to death or long prison terms.55 A witness at the trial wrote:
There was not one scintilla of remorse shown by any of these defendants. I was stunned at the evil, expressionless, hard faces of these doctors and assistants during the trial. They often expressed resentment when testifying, spewing defensive justifications and denying responsibility.56
World History
