Karl Brandt Biography

Karl Brandt was a German physician who served as Adolf Hitler’s personal physician, and was the highest medical authority in the Nazi regime. He held a powerful position in Nazi Germany and was the administrator of the Aktion T4 euthanasia program during which a recorded 70,273 people were killed at various hospitals in Germany and Austria. Born as the son of a Prussian Army officer, Brandt grew up to be a brilliant young man who became a medical doctor and surgeon. He was once summoned to treat Hitler’s adjutant who was hurt in an automobile accident. The young doctor impressed the Nazi leader so much that Hitler asked him to become his personal physician. The ambitious doctor was so successful in winning Hitler’s trust that over the years he rose in prominence in Nazi Germany. When Hitler planned to implement an involuntary euthanasia scheme to dispose of the citizens he deemed useless, he chose Brandt to head the program. Over a period of two years, he masterminded the extermination of thousands of people and also performed cruel medical experiments on the civilians and prisoners-of-war. His downfall came soon after the World War II ended. He was arrested and sentenced to death by a U.S. military tribunal for his involvement in war crimes.