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Press Release: February 17, 2010

National Archives at Kansas City

National Archives and Midwest Center for Holocaust Education to host "Deadly Medicine" exhibition from U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

Kansas City, (MO)…On March 16, 2010, the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education and the National Archives at Kansas City, in cooperation with the Center for Practical Bioethics, will open Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race— an exhibition on loan from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The public is invited to attend a ceremonial ribbon cutting at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, March 16 at the National Archives, which will include a tour led by the curator of the exhibit, Dr. Susan Bachrach of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Deadly Medicine examines how Nazi leadership, in collaboration with individuals in professions traditionally charged with healing and the public good, used science to help legitimize persecution, murder and, ultimately, genocide. From 1933–1945, Nazi Germany enlisted the help of physicians, scientists, public health officials and academic experts to develop racial policies aimed at “cleansing” German society of individuals viewed as biological threats to the nation’s “health”. What began with the mass sterilization of “genetically diseased” persons resulted in the near annihilation of European Jewry. This exhibition features original artifacts, photographs, documents and historic film footage illustrating how Hitler’s Nazi regime implemented its vision of an ethnically homogeneous community through a program of racial eugenics that culminated in the Holocaust.

“Deadly Medicine explores the Holocaust’s roots in then-contemporary scientific and pseudo-scientific thought,” explains exhibition curator Susan Bachrach. “At the same time, it touches on complex ethical issues we face today, such as how societies acquire and use scientific knowledge and how they balance the rights of the individual with the needs of the larger community.”

Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race is organized and circulated by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Deadly Medicine is sponsored in part by The Samberg Family Foundation, the Dorot Foundation, the Viterbi Family Foundation of the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, and the Rosenbluth Family—Al, Sylvia, Bill, and Jerry. Additional support was provided by the Takiff Family Foundation and the David Berg Foundation.  The Kansas City presentation of Deadly Medicine is made possible by the generous support of Saint Luke’s Health System, The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the Missouri Humanities Council, the Kansas Humanities Council, Sprint Foundation and Oppenstein Brothers Foundation. Bus subsidies have been provided by the Earl J. and Leona K. Tranin Special Fund and the Flo Harris Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City.

Admission, hours, and additional information

Deadly Medicine is a free exhibition and will be open through June 10, 2010. Viewer discretion advised as this exhibition contains material that may be disturbing to some viewers. The National Archives at Kansas City is open Tuesday-Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. for exhibits viewing and Tuesday-Saturday from 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. for research. Free parking is available for National Archives visitors, with additional free parking available in the Union Station Parking Garage on the west side of Union Station.

The National Archives at Kansas City is one of 13 facilities nationwide where the public has access to Federal archival records. It is home to more than 50,000 cubic feet of historical records dating from the 1820s to the 1990s created or received by nearly 100 Federal agencies. Serving the Central Plains Region, the archives holds records from the states of Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The facility is located at 400 West Pershing Road, Kansas City, MO 64108. The National Archives at Kansas City is open Tuesday–Saturday 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. for exhibits viewing and Tuesday–Saturday from 8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. for research.

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NREA 10–15

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