ILL-HEALTH IN GERMANY

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 September 1940, Page 11

ILL-HEALTH IN GERMANY

EFFECTS OF NAZI RULE. Germany is to-day in the condition of a nation which has been carrying on an exhausting war for six years. This is the view of Dr. Martin Gumpert, in his book, “Heil Hunger!” in which he describes the deterioration of health under Hitler. The conclusions of Dr. Gumpert, who was formerly head of a large clinic in Berlin, are based exclusively •on Nazi medical statistics. Following are some of the facts he produces:— Under Nazi rule, the mortality rate has risen considerably; the number of marriages, after an initial upward spurt, has declined; the fecundity index is far behind the level attained in the pre-Hitler period. Eighty thousand more : persons die annually in Hitler Germany than in pre-Hitler Germany, and the annual number of suicides is almost equal to the total number in the rest of Europe. In 1923 there were 185,327 patients in mental institutions; in 1936 there were 346,014. The number of industrial accidents rose from 1,354,315 in 1935 to 1,789,205 in 1937. SHORTAGE OF DOCTORS. ' Ten thousand Jewish doctors have been eliminated from the medical services, leaving 38,000 in the Reich; of these one-third are in the Forces, and those who remain for the care of civilians are in the proportion of one to 3,000. These conditions are inevitably reflected in the health of the Nazi army, and strange methods are being used to produce ersatz health among the Troops. Recently there have been many experiments with drugs administered to soldiers with a view to increasing efficiency. The inclusion of dextrin and other medicaments in the food of exhausted soldiers is proposed. A new drug, “Pbrvitin,” is administered io soldiers to make possible a “high physical performance to the point of complete exhaustion.” Cases of war-shocked soldiers, hysteria, and other nervous ailments are not to be removed from the war zone. The sufferers are to be regarded as, cowards and deprived of psychological treatment.