Hermann Voss

Personal

Vocation

Traits

German anatomist well known as a medical academic and textbook author, and also notorious for his experiments during the Third Reich. Voss joined the Nazi Party in 1937, initially only to help advance his career which he felt was being held back by his lack of involvement in the party. The following year Voss was appointed chief anatomist and associate professor at the University of Leipzig. Following the establishment of the Reich University of Posen Voss served as director of the anatomy institute. Under Voss experiments on both Jews and Poles became commonplace and indeed Voss became notorious for his anti-Polish sentiment, writing in his diaries that "the Polish people must be eradicated". By this time Voss had become a convinced follower of the Nazi Weltanschauung, with his diaries revealing a strong current of anti-Semitism and anti-communism. Whilst in this role he made a deal with the local Gestapo allowing them to use his incinerators in return for the use of some of the bodies of those executed by hanging or decapitation. Voss also had a sideline selling the skulls and death masks of Jews and Poles, with the Naturhistorisches Museum's curator Josef Wastl being his leading customer for this particular service. Following the war Voss settled in East Germany and was a professor at the University of Jena from 1952 to 1962 and later a professor emeritus at Greifswald Medical School. His anatomy textbook, popularly known as Voss und Herrlinger was published simultaneously in Jena and Stuttgart for almost forty years and seventeen editions and became a standard reference for German medical students, with editions also appearing in Spanish and Polish. He died in Hamburg on 19 January 1987 at the age of 92. Link to Wikipedia biography