Ernst-Robert Grawitz
A Nazi doctor who directed horrific medical experiments on concentration camp prisoners and helped organize the T4 euthanasia program.
1899–1945 (age 46)·German Nazi physician and SS-Obergruppenführer·Birthday: June 8·The Lost Generation
Biography
Ernst-Robert Grawitz’s life is a dark study in the corruption of medicine by ideology. Trained as a physician, he rose to high rank in the SS, becoming the chief doctor of the German Red Cross—an organization he effectively Nazified. His influence was sinister and far-reaching; he provided scientific legitimacy and funding for grotesque experiments on human subjects in camps like Dachau and Ravensbrück. Grawitz was also deeply complicit in Aktion T4, the systematic murder of people with disabilities. As the Third Reich collapsed in 1945, trapped in Berlin, he chose a final act of control and destruction. On the eve of Hitler’s own suicide, Grawitz detonated two grenades in his home, killing himself, his wife, and his children, thus evading the reckoning he faced.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
Ernst-Robert was born in 1899, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Ernst-Robert Was Born
The biggest hits of 1899
Ernst-Robert's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1899Born
President: William McKinley
1904Started school
New York City opens its first subway line
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1912Became a teenager
Titanic sinks on its maiden voyage
President: William Howard Taft
1915Could drive
The Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat
President: Woodrow Wilson
1917Could vote
Russian Revolution overthrows the tsar; US enters WWI
President: Woodrow Wilson
1920Turned 21
Women gain the right to vote in the US
Home: $3,395President: Woodrow Wilson"Swanee" — Al Jolson
1929Turned 30
Wall Street crashes, triggering the Great Depression
Gas: $0.21/galPresident: Herbert Hoover"Singin' in the Rain" — Cliff EdwardsBest Picture: The Broadway Melody
1939Turned 40
World War II begins; The Wizard of Oz premieres
Gas: $0.19/galMin wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Over the Rainbow" — Judy GarlandBest Picture: Gone with the Wind
1945Died at 46
WWII ends; atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $4,600Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Sentimental Journey" — Les Brown & Doris DayBest Picture: The Lost Weekend
Key Achievements
- Served as Reichsarzt SS (Chief Physician of the SS) and President of the German Red Cross during the Nazi era.
- Authorized and funded cruel medical experiments on prisoners in Nazi concentration camps.
- Was a key participant in the Aktion T4 program that murdered tens of thousands of disabled and mentally ill people.
Did You Know?
He was a qualified urologist before joining the SS.
Grawitz committed suicide on April 24, 1945, the same day Hitler's secretary, Martin Bormann, sent a telegram urging him to come to the Führerbunker.
His death, using hand grenades, also killed his entire family.
“The Führer's will is the supreme law of medicine.”
