Highly Reputed Autism Researcher Hans Asperger Implicated in Nazi Programs that Killed Disabled Children

Hans Asperger, an Austrian doctor, who did groundbreaking research in the developmental disorder autism, and also had the disease Asperger’s syndrome named after him, had a “heroic” reputation for his contributions until now. However, new research by historians has revealed that the doctor was involved in a Nazi program, and was responsible for killing disabled children.

The details about his involvement have been written about in a soon-to-be-released book, Asperger’s Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna. The information in the book explains how Asperger referred many children to a Viennese clinic called Am Spiegelgrund. They were either experimented upon by the doctors, or killed. Almost 800 children were killed in this clinic.

Edith Sheffer, a historian and a senior fellow at the University of California, visited government archives in Vienna, where she found the medical files which had records of these horrific details. Sheffer said, “From the very first file I found in the archives, I saw that he was implicated in the Nazi program that actually killed disabled children.” Read more