Hitler and his Jewish Doctors

Adolf Hitler continues to be one of the most infamous men in modern history. Remembered as the architect of Holocaust, Hitler was not always opposed to the existence of the Jewish people. He was born at a time when antisemitism was widely prevalent. Adolf lived as a vagabond in Vienna during his adolescence, drawing postcards to make ends meet and receiving assistance from his Jewish buddy, the artist Joseph Neumann who thought of him as a “decent man”. Hitler developed his political ideas in Vienna, a city with a large Jewish community.

Source: Medium (2021)

As a soldier in the German army during the first world war, Hitler like many other German soldiers, was upset over the defeat of the German Empire. It is well established that the Germans, to cover up for their defeat, spread the myth of “stab in the back”. The German army popularized a narrative that they had not lost the war on the battlefield, but due to betrayal by the Jews and communists who wanted a left-wing government in power. Thereafter, for much of the twentieth century, Europe was haunted by a threat of Judeo-Bolshevism myth.

Source: Anne Frank House

This myth—that Communism was a Jewish plot to destroy Europe—was a fantasy and an escape from reality. When Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power in 1933, they made the conspiracy theory an integral part of their official history of the 1920s. Thus, Nazis created the “Jewish problem” and convinced the masses that expelling the Jews was the solution to the problems in Germany. Moreover, this period coincided with the Great Depression and Germany’s political economy was frail and fragile. Nazi party also promised economic revival. These two grounds were enough to bring Hitler to the forefront of Germany’s political scene.

After he came to power, Hitler did everything humanly possible to eliminate the Jewish people. His solution to the problem was Holocaust, the murder of six million European Jews – the darkest blot on the consciousness of humanity. However, ironically, Hitler had two Jewish physicians.

Dr Eduard Bloch was a general physician, practicing in Austria’s third largest city, Linz where he practiced for 37 years, serving the underprivileged and earning the title of “the poor man’s doctor”. Dr Bloch is believed to have served Hitler’s ill mother – Klara Hitler who had breast cancer and thus was fondly remembered by him as a noble Jew.

Dr Eduard Bloch Source: Literary Hub (2021)

Impressed by Bloch’s commitment to healing, Hitler had said that “if all Jews would be like Dr. Bloch, there would be no Jewish question!” Dr Bloch and his family were given special privileges that were probably not accorded to any other Jews in the Reich. They were given access to their passports and their money; and eventually they were allowed to emigrate to America. In an article he wrote in 1941, Bloch had expressed his shock and disbelief at how a gentle boy could grow into the “persecutor of his race?”

In 1918, Hitler had cultivated another close Jewish medical connection with Dr Karl Kroner – a Jewish neurologist. In October that year, Hitler’s unit was exposed to a gas attack whilst fighting the British on the Belgian border. The soldiers were treated locally in a makeshift hospital and all were soon discharged except one – Adolf. Because of “blindness” he was transferred to Pasewalk Hospital. Dr Karl Kroner, who was working there, diagnosed “hysterical amblyopia,” one of the many reactions to trauma. How he recovered is interesting!

English neuropsychologist David Lewis (2003) in his work discusses how patients who had experienced trauma at the time were treated. They were first chastised for their unmanly actions. Subsequently, they received harsh treatment in the form of beatings, electroshock therapy, and other penalties, all intended to boost their self-esteem and encourage a speedy return to their unit. Hypnosis, also called the “enlightened technique,” was another therapy method. Dr. Forster applied Hypnosis to cure Hitler of his blindness. Magically, his vision started to come back.

On Kristallnacht in December 1938, Dr. Kroner was taken into custody. After being sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, he was eventually freed because his non-Jewish wife had managed to secure a visa for Iceland. In 1945, he moved to New York. Hitler gave a lease of life to his Jewish physicians and allowed them to leave the Reich, whilst millions of others were murdered mercilessly. How a gentle boy turned into an evil leader remains a point of enquiry for psychologists and historians alike!