What does research have to do with National Socialism?

The university was of great importance to the Nazi regime. Many fields of research were important to the war effort, others were characterised by anti-Semitic and eugenic ideas. This was also the case at the University of Innsbruck, which was called the German Alpine University from 1940 to 1945. The Institute of Hereditary and Racial Biology was founded here in 1939. The director was the National Socialist racial hygienist Dr Friedrich Stumpfl. Among other things, the Yenish (Karrner) in Tyrol were „researched“. There was also co-operation with the health authorities. The university thus became part of the system of so-called Nazi euthanasia.
After the end of the Nazi regime, Stumpfl was able to continue his academic career almost without interruption.
This episode emphasises the profound involvement of the university in the Nazi regime.

We have a responsibility to come to terms with this past in the academic community and to learn lessons for the present and the future.