Heinrich Gross

Heinrich Gross ( 14 of November of 1915 - 15 of December of 2005 ) was a psychiatrist , doctor and neurologist Austrian , best known for his participation demonstrated in the killing of at least nine children with physical, mental and / or emotional / behavioral characteristics considered “Impure” by the Nazi regime . His role in hundreds of other unproven cases of infanticide is not clear. Dr. Gross was head of the Spiegelgrund children’s psychiatric clinic for two years during World War II. ¹

An important element of the controversy surrounding Dr. Gross’s activities is that after the children had been killed, parts of their bodies, particularly their brains , were preserved and preserved for future study for decades after the murderers. It was not until April 28, 2002 that the preserved remains of these murdered children were finally buried.

The assassination program at Am Spiegelgrund , Vienna , where Gross was a senior physician, was assigned by the Nazis to the investigation of eugenics and to carry out the assassination of persons considered by the regime to constitute a life unworthy of being lived .

There were at least two criminal actions against Dr. Gross for his alleged involvement in these atrocities against children, one a couple of years after the end of World War II , which resulted in a murder conviction, which was later annulled technicality. A more recent attempt to convict Dr. Gross for his involvement in the murders of nine of the children was suspended indefinitely due to a successful claim that due to his advanced age and the alleged senility, Dr. Gross was not fit to be court. However, this claim has been under discussion since he gave an interview in a cafe shortly after being declared unfit to be tried, which many presented as evidence that he was actually mentally sound and able to understand the charges against him and Participate in their defense.

Finally, his Cross of Honor for Science and Art (awarded in 1975) was stripped in 2003.

Dr. Gross’s ability to avoid being found criminally responsible for the murders he is accused of participating in may reflect a combination of luck and political connections, plus a lack of good faith guilt in this crime. He had been captured by the Soviet army after the war, and therefore was not available to be tried in Nuremberg, where other people involved in the program were punished. The favorable results he enjoyed in his two criminal proceedings may reflect that since he was regularly used by the Austrian courts to provide the psychological profiles of the accused and to give an opinion on his judgment capacity (for which the examinations were revealed by a documentary Which have been carried out at an average rate of twice-a-day work, casting doubt on their objectivity and the validity of the views expressed), ² who perhaps received treatment that could be characterized as a privilege or partial in their favor.

Heinrich Gross

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