The Book Prize Index

The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide

Robert Jay Lifton

**The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide** was written by Robert Jay Lifton and published in 1986, analyzing the role of German doctors in carrying out a genocide. In the work Lifton details the medical procedures occurring before and during the Holocaust and explores the paradoxical theme of healing killing in which one race was healed by eliminating another; a concept that many used to morally justify their actions. Throughout the book, Lifton provides quotes from interviews he conducted with SS doctors and with victims. The book was awarded the 1987 Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the 1987 National Jewish Book Award in the Holocaust category. (Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nazi_Doctors))

War & MilitaryWar & Military · medium confidenceWar & Military81 signalsLlm Classifier: War & Military -> War & MilitaryOpen Library: Germany, politics and government, 1933-1945 -> BiographyOpen Library: Human experimentation in medicine -> Medicine & Public HealthWorld War IISoldiers, Veterans & Combat ExperienceWar & Military Strategy

Award History

1 wins · 1 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History1987WinnerSecondary source
View all award history (1)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    No argument inferred with sufficient confidence.

    This suggestion did not meet the normal display threshold and is more likely to be wrong.

    German doctors carried out genocide through medical killing, including procedures that enabled a “healing killing” moral paradox—healing one group by eliminating another—supported by actors’ justifications.

    Model confidence 46%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    55 / 100 academic

    Trade / academic crossover

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 52%.