Among the many atrocities the Third Reich committed in its quest to fashion Europe after its own twisted image was the forced sterilization of roughly 400,000 men and women in accordance with the 1933 Gesetz zur Verhütung erbkranken Nachwuchses (GzVeN, The Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring; hereafter, GzVeN), which stipulated that these individuals, as a result of diseases, disabilities, or sexual orientation were deemed a threat to Aryan racial “superiority.” Of these sterilizations, approximately 6,000 were committed in the Reich's “Ostmark,” or Austria, between the years 1940 and 1945. Roughly 1,200 were performed in Vienna alone. Utilizing previously untapped archival records, Claudia Andrea Spring offers analysis of the application of the GzVeN in Austria during the war and the continuing legacy of Nazi sterilization policy in the postwar era.

The first chapter discusses the law itself. Under the stipulations of the GzVeN, supposedly only those who possessed hereditary diseases were subject to forced sterilization. Thus, the law's scope included anyone possessing hereditary mental or physical disabilities, schizophrenia, depression, and genetic diseases such as epilepsy and Huntington's chorea. In practice, however, so-called asocials, particularly alcoholics and homosexuals, also fell victim to the courts' judgment. Those readers already familiar with the work of Gisela Bock and Henry Friedlander will no doubt recognize this material, but it receives a fresh and cogent introduction here.

The second and third chapters then focus on the Hereditary Health Courts themselves: their composition, the cases they heard, and the reasoning behind their decisions. Spring was able to gain access to the files of 1,700 individuals tried before the courts, which comprised doctors and judges and which worked in conjunction with hospitals and nursing homes. These courts determined whether an individual met the criteria for sterilization. More than 50 medical personnel served as advisors to the courts, demonstrating the significant degree to which doctors and nurses willingly and knowingly participated in the process of identifying their own patients and other innocents as fit for forcible sterilization. Here, the 1,700 unearthed case files are used to great effect, as Spring presents not only the cold logic of the professionals engaged in the process of “strengthening the Völk,” but also the desperate defense of those put on trial. These sections mark the volume's most valuable contribution to the historiography. The fourth chapter, concerning the implementation of the orders, is somewhat less satisfying, if only—as Spring herself acknowledges—the available documentary evidence is limited, as many of the files dealing with the actual act of sterilization are still considered private medical records.

Sterilization is inextricably linked with the issue of gender, and Spring's work does not ignore this crucial dimension. Interestingly, in comparing the trials of men and women, she finds little gender bias. Hearings for men and women lasted for a roughly equal duration, they were equally likely to demand to be heard in court, and similar cases across the gender divide met with identical decisions. Nonetheless, two significant gendered aspects remained salient throughout the six years the GzVeN was in effect. First, the court apparatus consisted exclusively of men. Second, in a highly gendered society in which Nazi ideology extolled women as the progenitors of the Aryan race and made every effort to encourage and reward high birthrates, sterilized women were effectively deprived of their status in Nazi society. Although a sterilized man could still fulfill his duty to the Völk by waging war against its enemies (and thereby retrieve some measure of his lost masculinity), the available options for sterilized women were much more limited.

Spring concludes with a consideration of the postwar careers of those doctors, lawyers, and judges involved in the implementation of the GzVeN, finding that far too many of them not only escaped justice altogether, but also in the subsequent years even garnered accolades for their work. Indeed, the newly founded Second Republic refused to recognize the crime of forced sterilization. A movement to expand public awareness and gain official recognition for the plight of the sterilized in 1995 met with disappointing results, as it was decided that those sterilized for being “asocials” had no right to reparation. Furthermore, men and women could only claim victim status if their sterilization occurred without their consent and knowledge, and their status as hereditarily diseased remained part of their permanent record.

The merits of this book are many, and it has earned both the Herbert Steiner (2008) and Michael Mitterauer (2009) prizes. Spring's contribution deserves a broad readership (hopefully to be amplified by an English translation) and is recommended to all those interested in eugenics, the interstices of medical science and Fascist ideology, the Holocaust, reproductive rights, and modern Austrian history.