Berthold Epstein

Berthold Epstein was a Czech pediatrician, professor and scientist, born into a Jewish family in Plzen on 1 April 1890 and died on 9 June 1962. He became professor and director of a children's clinic attached to the German Hospital in Prague. After fleeing to Norway in March 1940 he was licensed to practise medicine there and was encouraged to apply to lead the pediatric clinic at Rikshospitalet, but the Nazi persecution of Jews ended that career and he did tuberculosis research until his arrest in October 1942 and deportation to Auschwitz. In the camp he was forced to assist Josef Mengele with experiments on noma, work that cost about 3,000 lives. He survived the war, testified in Soviet war crimes trials, and chaired the pediatric clinic at Bulovka Hospital in Prague from 1949 until his death.