Former head of the health insurance fund rejects NS accusations

Following his dismissal as Chairman of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in Saxony (KVS), Klaus Heckemann has rejected accusations of being close to National Socialism. "This accusation hits me hard," Heckemann told the "Ärzte Zeitung" in Dresden. "Rehabilitation in this regard is more important to me than anything else."

In an editorial published in the June issue of "KVS-Mitteilungen", Heckemann wrote, among other things, about genetic diagnostics and "eugenics in its best and most humane sense". A "vision of the future" of genetic testing is described. All women who wish to have children should be offered a complete mutation search for hereditary diseases.

National Socialists committed mass murder under the guise of eugenics

"Eugenics" stands for the doctrine of supposedly good hereditary traits. Under the guise of this term, the National Socialists carried out mass murders of disabled people for the purpose of supposed "hereditary and racial hygiene".

Heckemann's theories triggered a wave of criticism. Representatives of Dresden University Medicine, for example, wrote in an open letter that it was "shocking and incomprehensible that a prominent representative of the Saxon medical profession and therapists should be allowed to publicly disseminate such ideas".

The board of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians was also critical in a statement: "Even if such statements come across as a neutral assessment, they have the potential to make inhumane positions of the Nazi dictatorship acceptable again." On Wednesday, Heckemann was finally relieved of his position as Chairman of the KVS.

Heckemann defends "eugenics" statement

Heckemann has now defended his theses. "I absolutely reject the accusation that I am spreading National Socialist ideas for developing an idea that is already being used in Israel and elsewhere," he told the newspaper.

He also accused critics of misunderstanding him. "It's bigoted, because it was clear in context that I didn't mean coercive measures as in the Nazi era, but that parents could only be given a better chance of having a healthy child."