Neurology's witness to history

Abstract

A witness is defined as one who provides of a fact or an event whose attestation fulfills the role of or serving as evidence to that which has occurred. [1] Such attestation becomes concrete and enduring through either the witness' written record or the legal provision of testimony within a court of law. By its nature, history is subject to interpretation by those who were not present. Sometimes, interpretation challenges the very existence of events themselves (historical revisionism). Historical research, therefore, must be founded upon the physical record of primary archival material and the testimony of witnesses to maintain its veracity. While the witness is often chosen by fate alone, in certain situations special skills may choose the witness. The observations made by such a witness coupled with astute interpretation of the reasons for the events themselves can serve as catalysts that modify subsequent human conduct. Such a witness was neurology's own Leo Alexander. Because of his special skills in linguistics, neurobiology, and psychiatry, Alexander was chosen to prepare intelligence reports on medical practices within the Third Reich's army, its mental institutions, and its prison camps immediately after the end of World War II. In a frenzy of activity during one brief summer in 1945, and under a mandate from the Combined Intelligence Operative Sub-Committee (CIOS) of the United States VIIth Army, Alexander completed seven reports providing first-hand testimony of the perversion of medicine and medical science in the totalitarian setting of Nazi Germany. [2-8] These reports contained primary archival material, debriefings of physician-participants, and synopses of Alexander's review of captured documents. They were prepared not only to satisfy the intelligence needs of a victorious army, but also to fulfill an individual physician's need to record and comprehend for posterity that which bordered on the incomprehensible. There can …

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