Interview Heidelberg’s Forgotten Victims

19  December 2025

What exactly were the Hereditary Health Courts?

Kail: Between 1934 and 1945, these courts – created specifically for the program – were responsible for examining and ruling on applications for forced sterilizations, a process euphemistically described as “rendering infertile”. In this way, the courts channeled those affected – women and men alike – straight into the National Socialist forced sterilization system. In Heidelberg, the Hereditary Health Court was temporarily located at Seminarstrasse 3, where the Department of Romance Studies is housed today.

Who was allowed to submit applications for forced sterilization?

Kail: Three groups were entitled to submit applications. First, the public health officers, and second, the heads of hospitals and prisons. The third group consisted of the affected individuals themselves or their legal guardians. In doing so, the legislator implied that implementation would, not least, rely on the population’s voluntary cooperation.

Heidelberg’s rate of forced sterilizations was above average. Why is that?

Kail: In Heidelberg, as my study shows, the forced sterilization program was implemented with particular rigor and strictness. I identified two key factors behind this. First, a reporting apparatus established as early as the summer of 1933 played a key role here. It emerged unusually early and involved a wide range of different institutions, including the university, the city administration and the judiciary. The collaboration between these bodies was tightly interlinked and highly efficient. Second, the Hereditary Health Court in Heidelberg pursued especially strict legal practices. A very large proportion of applications received – around 91 percent – resulted in an order to render the person infertile. This was not least because basic procedural safeguards were not adequately respected.

Which people were affected?

Kail: The group of people affected was highly diverse. Most came from lower socio-economic backgrounds, as well as parts of the middle classes. They were often people who had already been stigmatized, such as recipients of welfare support, the unemployed, or anyone broadly labeled as “social parasites” at the time. These already vulnerable groups were disproportionately targeted by the forced sterilization system.

So these were people who were not in a position to defend themselves easily.

Kail: Exactly. Oftentimes, these people simply didn’t have the necessary awareness of their rights. On the one hand, there were authority figures such as judges and doctors, who were highly respected in society and whose decisions were rarely questioned. Meanwhile, those affected often lacked both the financial means and the legal or medical knowledge to defend themselves effectively. This structural imbalance was deliberately exploited. Those in charge knew they had the upper hand and used it to their advantage.

What role did Heidelberg University play?

Kail: Wilhelm Groh, Rector of Heidelberg University at the time, explicitly welcomed the Nazi program of “racial hygiene” in 1934, meaning the university was significantly involved in implementing the forced sterilization policy from the outset. This can be seen in three particularly striking ways. First, the university was actively integrated into the reporting system. As early as spring 1933, it set up its own unit to collect data from patients at the university hospitals – which explicitly aligned with the eugenic research on which the entire National Socialist forced sterilization program was based. This data was made available to the city’s reporting apparatus and played a significant part in bringing even more people into its net. Second, senior figures at the Heidelberg university hospitals submitted applications for sterilization even if this was contrary to the interests of their own patients. And third, the university hospital served as a central site for operations. Most procedures took place in the women’s clinic and the surgical clinic, which together carried out around two thirds of the operations recorded in my sample.

How did you come to work on this topic?

Kail: National Socialism became a focus of my studies early on because I have a strong interest in this period of history. I attended seminars on the history of medicine and Nazi trials, among others. Through my supervisor at the Department of History, Prof. Dr Frank Engehausen, I ultimately became aware of files on this topic in the Karlsruhe State Archive. This is how my master’s thesis topic developed, because it quickly became clear to me that very little was currently known about the forced sterilizations and their victims in Heidelberg.

How did the often shocking sources affect your approach to the subject?

Kail: Working with the files was often very moving, and some of the contents were particularly harrowing. But precisely because of that, I felt even more driven to expose this injustice. Some cases, such as terminations of pregnancy against the women’s will, were so vivid that at times I even had to take breaks. These pauses helped me step back and regain the perspective I needed to continue working in a focused and objective way.

Your study was published as a book – which is by no means a given for a master’s thesis. What does it mean to you that your research is now accessible to a wide public beyond the university?

Kail: Above all, I’m very pleased that this has helped create awareness of this previously neglected chapter in the city’s history. I’ve already heard from readers, and their responses show that the material still resonates with people today. What is especially impressive for me is that my work is prompting conversations and encouraging reflection.