Note to Correspondents

EXHIBIT ‘DEADLY MEDICINE:  CREATING THE MASTER RACE’

TO OPEN AT UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS

 

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s travelling exhibition, Deadly Medicine:  Creating the Master Race, will open in the Main Gallery of the Visitors’ Lobby on Monday, 26 January 2009, at 7 p.m., as part of a week-long series of Holocaust remembrance activities in observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, 27 January.

This exhibition examines how the 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.  The aim was to change the genetic make-up of the population through measures known as “racial hygiene” or “eugenics”. 

“Deadly Medicine explores the roots of the Holocaust in then-contemporary scientific and pseudo-scientific thought,” says the exhibition’s 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.  We are pleased to be bringing this important exhibition to the United Nations and an international audience.”

A press preview with the exhibition curator will be held on Monday, 26 January, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the North East Gallery of the Visitors’ Lobby.  Media interested in attending the press preview or speaking to Susan Bachrach should contact Jackie Berkowitz at tel.:  202 488 2637.

Holocaust remembrance activities at the United Nations are organized in partnership with the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme, Outreach Division, of the Department of Public Information.  The Programme, as established by General Assembly resolution 60/7, aims to mobilize civil society for Holocaust remembrance and education, in order to help to prevent future acts of genocide.  For more information, please contact Kimberly Mann at mann@un.org and visit www.un.org/holocaustremembrance.

This exhibit is organized by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), in cooperation with the United Nations Department of Public Information.  A living memory to the Holocaust, USHMM inspires citizens and leaders to confront hatred, promote human dignity and prevent genocide.  Its far-reaching educational programmes and global impact are made possible by the generosity of donors nationwide through legacy and annual giving.  For more information, visit www.ushmm.org.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, call Jan Arnesen at tel.:  212 963 8531, Liza Wichmann at tel.:  212 963 0089; e-mail at arnesen@un.org or wichmann@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record