Leonardo Conti

Leonardo Conti
Born	August 24, 1900(1900-08-24)
Died	October 6, 1945(1945-10-06) (aged 45)
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Schutzstaffel
Rank	SS-Obergruppenführer

Leonardo Conti (August 24, 1900 – October 6, 1945) was the Reich Health Leader (German: Reichsgesundheitsführer) in Nazi Germany. He was born to a Swiss Italian father and mother in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland; his mother later became the Reich Midwifery Leader in Nazi Germany.

Conti later studied medicine in the German Empire. He became active in the völkisch movement, and co-founded an antisemitic paper called Kampfbund (English: struggle league). He took part in the Kapp Putsch in 1920. From 1923 he was a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), becoming their first physician; one of his patients was Horst Wessel, who eventually became a martyr of the Nazi Party. In 1925, he promoted "Über Weichteilplastik im Gesicht", a book about facial plastic surgery. In 1927 he left his usual activities and started organizing the National Socialist German Doctors' League (NSDÄB) (German: Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Ärztebund) in Berlin.

He joined the Schutzstaffel (SS) and, as an "old fighter" of the party, he was appointed by Hermann Göring to the Prussian State Council. Conti held the posts and titles of Head of the Reich Physicians' Chamber (German: Reichsärztekammer), Leader of the NSDÄB, and Leader of the Main Office for the People's Health. In 1939, Conti was appointed Reichsgesundheitsführer and State Secretary in the Interior Ministry. In 1944, he was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer (English: General).

After Germany's surrender, Conti was to have been tried his involvement in the Action T4 Euthanasia Program at the Doctors' Trial. However, he hanged himself on his cell on October 6, 1945 (over a year before the trial began).

External links

• Biography of Conti
• (German) Short text on Leonardo Conti and the "ideologization of medicine during the Nazi dictatorship"
• (Italian) Biography and pictures of Conti
• Leonardo Conti in the German National Library catalogue (German)