Conference - Medical Review Auschwitz

From 15 to 17 September 2025, the sixth international conference ‘Medical Review Auschwitz: Medicine Behind the Barbed Wire’ took place in Kraków. The Finkelstein Foundation supported the event as a funding partner.

The aim of the conference format is to share new findings on research into medical crimes under National Socialism and to reflect on their significance for today's ethical issues in medicine and healthcare. Over 100 participants, including young doctors from the USA and Israel, took part.

The conference began with a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial, including a visit to Block 10, where medical experiments were carried out on prisoners. The exhibition ‘Negatives of Memory’ by Marian Kołodziej, a survivor of the camp, also left a lasting impression.

Over the following days, international experts from the fields of medicine, history, law and bioethics spoke about ethical misconduct in medicine during the Nazi era and the relevance of these issues for the present day. Particularly impressive was the speech and participation of 99-year-old Holocaust survivor Dr. Leon Weintraub, who reminded us of our responsibility to preserve memory and oppose all forms of exclusion. After his liberation from the Nazi camps, he studied medicine and became a gynaecologist. 

The Zdzisław Jan Ryn Prize for the best presentation was awarded during the conference, which this year went to Prof. Jay R. Malone (USA). An accompanying fellowship programme also enabled young medical professionals to actively participate and engage in international exchange.  

All conference presentations are freely available online at: www.medical-auschwitz.one  

By supporting the redesign of the website and the conference, we aim to strengthen historical responsibility, ethical education and the discussion of professional ethical issues in a medical context.