April 6 – June 12, 2009
Charles B. Wang Center, Stony Brook University


“Our starting point is not the individual, and we do not subscribe to the view that one should feed the
hungry, give drink to the thirsty, or clothe the naked. … Our objectives are entirely different: we
must have a healthy people in order to prevail in the world.”

Joseph Goebbels
Nazi Minister of Propaganda, 1938

From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany's government led by Adolf Hitler promoted a nationalism that combined territorial expansion with claims of biological superiority—an "Aryan master race"—and virulent antisemitism. Driven by a racist ideology legitimized by German scientists, the Nazis attempted to eliminate all of Europe's Jews, ultimately killing six million in the Holocaust. Many others also became victims of persecution and murder in the Nazis' campaign to cleanse German society of individuals viewed as threats to the "health" of the nation.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s traveling exhibition, Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race, examines how the Nazi leadership, in collaboration with individuals in professions traditionally charged with healing and the public good, used science to help legitimize persecution, murder and, ultimately, genocide.

The exhibition contains historical photographs, artifacts and survivor testimony from the Holocaust, including explicit images of medical experimentation on children.

Lectures presented in conjunction with the exhibition are organized by the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics and will include experts representing the fields of history, medicine, and ethics.

This version of Deadly Medicine is based on the acclaimed exhibition of the same name that originally opened at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., in April 2004. Two other successful traveling versions of the exhibition have been on display in Canada and Germany. An online version of the exhibition is available at www.ushmm.org/deadlymedicine.

Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race
April 6, 2009 to June 12, 2009

Open most Mondays through Friday, 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm. See extended hours.

Exhibition Reception:
Monday, April 27, 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Stony Brook University
Charles B. Wang Center

This exhibiton is not suitable for young children.