Thanatology and the Nuremberg Doctors' Trial Conceptualizing the 'Science of Killing'

On November 27, 1946, a few days before the Nazi doctors’ trial commenced, the Austrian-Jewish émigré-physician and medical expert for the US prosecution, Leo Alexander, who, in the weeks after the end of hostilities, had produced a series of Combined Intelligence Operative Sub-Committee (CIOS) reports on Nazi human experiments and the “euthanasia” program, wrote to his wife “Fifi” to give her a first impression about Nuremberg:

I have been here about a week, and what an interesting week it was. The mass of material that has been unearthed since the days on my reports is tremendous. I have delved in that mass of material, and have finally grasped its meaning and have come out with an appraisal that makes sense. It is thanatology pure and simple, and it is the technique of genocide. Thanatology is a word I have coined: thanathos in Greek, means death. Genocide is the “murder of people”, a word coined by our old friend Lemkin. I shall send you the carbon of an appraisal of the whole problem which I have been writing for General Taylor, the chief prosecutor.

In March 2023, following investigations into war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in the Russo-Ukrainian war, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights, for their involvement in the unlawful deportation of children. The arrest warrant against the president of the Russian Federation, coupled with compelling evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity in one of the most brutal and expansionist wars Europe has witnessed since the end of the Second World War, has propelled the subject of the Nuremberg trials to the forefront of scholarly and political debates. Experts recognize that the legal challenges and (geo) political and public relations implications of an international trial at the ICC< where Putin would probably be tried in absentia, are formidable. It has also highlighted the need for a deeper understanding of the historical, ethical, and legal underpinnings of the Nuremberg trials, which has become more important than ever.