Nazi atrocities behind a medical book

The scientific community is divided by an anatomy book, which shows in its drawings the richest details and bright colors but which is stained ethically: it was created from the bodies of people killed by Nazism. The representation has ceased to be modified, but the used copies of its volumes are still on sale, which represents a real value.

The topographical anatomy of man, known as the Atlas of Eduard Pernkopf, relied on the bodies of prisoners executed during the Holocaust to represent in detail the skin, muscles, tendons, nerves, organs and bones. The manual is no longer published and only used copies of some of its four volumes remain on sale. The set can cost several thousand dollars. For example, on Amazon.com, volume 2 of the atlas on the chest, abdomen and limbs costs $ 930.99. The description states that when the cover is worn, the book is in "perfect condition". In any case, there are few who dare to show it in libraries for ethical reasons because of its genesis.

According to the BBC, the book's findings come from the bodies of hundreds of people killed by the Nazis. Their bodies, dissected and cut by the Nazi doctor Pernkopf, were drawn simultaneously on thousands of pages by a team of artists. The bodies were homobaduals, gypsies and Jews.

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