11/10/99
Herr
Doktor
There's a
putrid stench in
Tel Aviv this week,
an entrail of history
coming right into
our midst: Nazism.
Unbelievably,
its purveyor is
the World Medical
Association, just
about the last organization
on earth you'd expect
to be tainted by
this.
The WMA might
have been led into
the Jewish State
by an unrepentant,
proven SS war criminal,
Hans Joachim Sewering
(I cannot bring
myself to honor
him with the title
"Dr."),
who was on the verge
of being elected
its president seven
years ago. That
he wasn't is thanks
largely to the efforts
of a San Francisco
dermatologist, Dr.
Michael Franzblau,
who discovered the
scandal, and exposed
him.
Saved from
such a disgrace,
the WMA is instead
arriving with Dr.
Karsten Vilmar as
its treasurer. Vilmar
is a staunch apologist
for his mentor Sewering,
and Franzblau is
campaigning for
his ouster.
Franzblau
-- who arrives tomorrow
to lecture on the
subject -- has devoted
much of his time
and money over the
past six years in
the pursuit of justice.
It's a narrow-focused,
one-man mission:
He wants Sewering
prosecuted and his
"acolyte"
Vilmar discredited.
He wants the Bavarian
and German governments
to stop obstructing
justice. He wants
the German medical
profession to finally
own up to the past
and examine its
present-day attitudes.
He wants American
medical students
and physicians to
know what their
German colleagues
perpetrated during
the Nazi era. And
finally, he wants
to lay some personal
ghosts to rest.
On July 22,
1942, his father's
entire family, 25
people, were herded
into a synagogue
in the town of Ropcyzce,
Galicia. They were
incinerated alive.
"To this day
I have a feeling
of guilt and impotence
that I could do
nothing to save
the lives of my
loved ones,"
says the soft-spoken
Franzblau, 72. "I
know my feelings
are unrealistic,
but they play a
significant role
in my persona as
an American Jew
and a physician."
FRANZBLAU'S
mission was given
major exposure on
two investigative
American TV programs,
including ג€60 Minutes.ג€
They tracked down
Sewering, conducted
a frustrating but
ultimately triumphant
paper chase -- exposing
lies and coverups
by German officials
along the way --
and found documented
proof of his crimes,
and living eyewitnesses.
Sewering,
a lung specialist,
slipped through
a crack during the
1946-47 Nuremburg
Doctor Trials. But
this was not a crack,
it was a mile-wide
canyon. Sewering
was not "merely"
a small potato following
orders, he was giving
them. He was
a major perpetrator
of the Nazis' "T-4"
program, the charmingly
described "racial
hygiene" concept
designed to purify
the "master
race" of its
imperfections by
forced euthanasia
-- the Nazis' idea
of survival of the
fittest. Sewering's
signature was a
death sentence for
up to 900 children
sent from Schonbrunn
Sanatorium in Munich,
where he worked,
to a killing center.
The T-4 plan,
which eliminated
a quarter-million
"undesirable"
Germans, is seen
as the precursor
of the Jewish genocide.
Says Franzblau:
"Even though
Sewering's crimes
did not involve
Jews as Jews, he
killed human beings."
Sewering
did not disappear
into obscurity after
the war. Shockingly,
he did quite the
opposite: now 83
and still practising,
he was allowed to
flourish.
It's almost
impossible to believe,
but this notorious
Doctor of Death
rose to great prominence:
he became a Bavarian
senator; head of
the German Association
of Doctors; president
of the German Medical
Association; president
of the Chamber of
Physicians -- literally,
Germany's top doctor;
he was awarded Germany's
highest civilian
honor -- three
times! The
GMA made Sewering
an honorary Trustee
for life, and stated
that the case against
Sewering was closed.
As if that wasn't
enough, in 1992
his peers rolled
out the red carpet
for him all the
way to the presidency
of the World Medical
Association. (He
was later forced
to resign.)
It is the
height of cynical
hypocrisy flying
in the face of the
Hippocratic Oath.
And it is
not without a touch
of irony: Sewering's
medical practise
is located in the
town of ... Dachau.
THE
CASE against Vilmar
is not so grotesque,
but repugnant nonetheless.
"Vilmar has
just been forced
out of the presidency
of the German Medical
Association after
20 years in office.
His entire political
career is directly
related to the clout
of Dr. Sewering;
Vilmar is his pet
project.
"Vilmar
lost his position
after I attacked
him for lying to
the WMA about Sewering.
All along, he has
been lying to protect
his mentor. He helped
craft a press release
stating that Sewering
resigned [from the
WMA presidency]
because of a threatened
boycott by the World
Jewish Congress.
An outright lie,
but it played well
to the members of
the German Medical
Association. He
said everyone in
the United States
knew Sewering was
not a Nazi and SS
member. A lie. He
stated in a press
release on the stationery
of the GMA that
Sewering had been
exonerated by a
denazification court
in l946 -- but the
charge of murder
and crimes against
humanity only surfaced
in 1978 in Der Spiegel.
For this lie, he
was convicted and
fined in court."
Sewering
is banned by the
Justice Department
from entering the
US, but Franzblau
is greatly pained
not to have been
supported, as he
fully expected,
by this country.
"The delegate
of the Israel Medical
Association openly
berated me in 1993
for bringing up
these issues. The
present delegate
has never responded
to my written requests
for support.
"In
1997 I had a private
meeting with President
Ezer Weizman, who
told me I was doing
such a good job
that he did not
think Israel needed
to support my efforts
to have Dr. Sewering
tried for murder.
David Bar-Illan
(a top adviser to
the former prime
minister) promised
to take up the matter
with the Foreign
Ministry, but I
never got a response."
Franzblau
says he suspects
that "a decision
has been made at
the highest level
of the Israeli government
to be nice to the
Germans," and
not stir up trouble.
Franzblau
concludes that "for
the Israel Medical
Association to be
hosting the WMA
is very strange
indeed."
The German
medical establishment
has never repudiated
its abysmal past,
never cleaned out
the rot, never dispersed
the cloud of suspicion
hanging over it.
Makes you wonder:
if their most honored
doctor is so damnable,
how pristine are
his peers -- those
of his generation
-- who are coming
here this week from
that country?
