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Evil Doctors and Scientists From World War II

Khalid Elhassan January 15, 2021 33 min

Second Battle of Champagne - Second Battle of Ypres — French soldiers wearing gas masks in WWI trenches, waiting for an order to launch an attack. Flickr

3. During World War II, This Doctor Had a Good Dr. Jekyll Side, That Was Eclipsed by His Evil Mr. Hyde Persona

German troops marching into Paris in 1940. United Press International

Paris agreed with Dr. Petiot. He used fake credentials to attract patients, and before long, he had established a thriving practice in the 9^th Arrondissement. It helped that his office gained a reputation as a pill mill, handing out controlled drug prescriptions to all and sundry. Nor did it hurt that the doctor was more than willing to perform illegal abortions for the right price. However, despite his thriving and highly lucrative practice – made even more lucrative by his tax evasion – Petiot persisted with the thefts, petty and grand, of anything that was not nailed down.

In 1936, he was institutionalized for kleptomania, but was released the following year. After France was defeated and conquered by the Nazis in 1940, French citizens were drafted to toil in Germany as forced laborers. Dr. Petiot helped labor draft evaders by furnishing them with fake medical disability documents. He also treated returning workers who had been sent back from Germany, broken down and in poor health. That was his good side – the Dr. Jekyll part. Unfortunately, it was eclipsed by the doctor’s evil Mr. Hyde side.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.