Victims database goes online
First results from the research project “Brain research at Institutes of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in the context of National Socialist injustices”
It is the world’s first online database to systematically record the victims of unethical medical research under National Socialism, documenting their fates for research and investigation. It was established within the framework of the collaborative project “Brain Research at Kaiser Wilhelm Society Institutes in the context of National Socialist injustices” funded by the Max Planck Society, and was presented on 18 August 2025 at a joint press conference by the Max Planck Society and the Leopoldina. The database commemorates those who were exploited for medical experiments, victims of the Nazi euthanasia programme, as well as civilian and military victims of National Socialism.
The press conference was held on the 86th anniversary of the commencement of the systematic extermination of individuals with disabilities in National Socialist Germany. The so-called “euthanasia programme” began in 1939 with the circular decree mandating the registration of people in care and treatment institutions, ultimately claiming approximately 260,000 lives within the German sphere of influence. Scientists from the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (KWG), the predecessor of the Max Planck Society (MPG), were also implicated in these crimes, as the brains of the murdered were misused for research well into the post-World War II period. Reflecting on this history, MPG President Patrick Cramer emphasised: “History demonstrates what human beings are capable of when an autocratic state disregards prevailing humanitarian values in favour of racial ideology and fanaticism. Science, too, must remain mindful of this and adhere to ethical guidelines; today’s highly specialised research must never lose sight of human beings.” This message is particularly pertinent for the Max Planck Society, given its historical roots in the Kaiser Wilhelm Society.
Names and fates
The database restores the victims’ identities and a measure of their dignity by reconstructing their personal fates and naming the individuals. “It is a resource for ethics and history that will endure over time,” stated Paul Weindling of Oxford Brookes University, who began laying the project’s foundations with his research some 20 years ago. To date, the database contains information on 30,250 people who became victims of National Socialism in a medical context. These individuals were exploited for unethical medical experiments, systematically murdered under the Nazi “euthanasia” killing programme, or subjected to Nazi injustice and German wartime atrocities. Among them are approximately 5,000 Jewish victims.
The database documents details of each person’s life and medical history, the abuses they endured in medical experiments and – where available – surviving personal testimonies. It also provides further information for research into the sources, events, and unethical research projects connected with these individuals. The scope of information varies considerably from case to case, depending on the available sources and records. For this reason, only 16,000 comprehensively documented cases are accessible to the public.
Digital memorial site
As a central register of names, the database also serves as a digital memorial for both the public and the victims’ families. It allows relatives to search specifically for family members, while access to sensitive information about medical histories and persecution is granted only to relatives on request or to qualified researchers. Anyone seeking comprehensive access to all stored data for scientific or research purposes can apply via a contact form on the Victims of Biomedical Research under National Socialism website and search across all 30,250 individuals. Relatives may, upon request, review the entire dataset of their family member.
The publicly visible interface functions as a digital memorial, presenting selected individuals and their personal stories through images and texts, thereby commemorating all victims by proxy. An interactive map further illustrates the scope and geographical distribution of these crimes.
The first database on victims of unethical medical research under National Socialism
The database is the world’s first online resource to comprehensively document the victims of unethical medical research under National Socialism. It builds on the extensive, long-term research conducted by Paul Weindling at Oxford Brookes University. Since 2017, the database has been technically implemented at the Leopoldina – the National Academy of Sciences – and is funded by the Max Planck Society as part of a research project investigating brain research at Institutes of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in the context of National Socialist injustices.
Historical context and research
Between 1933 and 1945, researchers at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institutes for Brain Research and Psychiatry – today part of the Max Planck Society – collected brain tissue samples in connection with crimes committed under National Socialism. Many of these samples continued to be used in research and teaching long after 1945, largely because the researchers involved were able to continue their careers within the Max Planck Society after the end of the Nazi regime.
Initial findings from the victim research project on brain research at KWG Institutes
The discovery of these specimens in 2015 prompted the launch of a comprehensive research project on brain research at Kaiser Wilhelm Society Institutes in the context of National Socialist crimes, the first partial outcome of which is the database. Within this project, Paul Weindling and his team traced the provenance of specimens from 314 individuals outside the group of euthanasia victims. These included prisoners of war, civilians from territories occupied by the Wehrmacht, forced labourers, and those sentenced by Nazi judiciary. The group also encompasses victims from Poland, a particularly significant category that Weindling had previously studied only to a limited extent.
The two other groups within the research project, led by Herwig Czech (Medical University of Vienna), Philipp Rauh (Technical University of Munich), and Volker Roelcke (University of Giessen), focused on the victims of the Nazi “euthanasia” killing programme. Scientists at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research in Berlin and the Brain Pathology Institute of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Psychiatry in Munich procured brains and tissue samples from at least 1,350 individuals, incorporating them into scientific collections. In addition, researchers have identified several hundred cases of brain removals that were not included in the established collections. A key interim finding is that the number of people whose brains were misused for research is significantly higher than previously assumed. Strikingly, approximately half of these “euthanasia“ victims were children under the age of 10.
Outlook
The launch of the database is a partial result of the research project “Brain Research at Institutes of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society.” With the publication of two historical studies and two memorial volumes, the research groups will complete their work in 2026. For the Max Planck Society, this will mark the point at which it can begin planning the burial of the brain specimens at Munich’s Waldfriedhof cemetery, in consultation with relatives and victims’ associations. The existing grave site, where brain specimens from Max Planck Institute collections were already buried in 1990, will be redesigned on the basis of the project’s findings in the coming years – as a place of memorial, reflection, and information.