Hans Heinze from Elsterberg (Vogtland) had 13 siblings. Heinze graduated from high school in 1914 and became a paramedic. From 1918, he studied medicine in Leipzig. In the early 1930s, he was head of paediatric psychiatry at Berlin University Hospital. In 1938, he took over the management of the Görden State Hospital. In mid-1939, he became a member of the »Reich Committee«. He set up the first »Specialised children’s ward« in his institution and became a child murderer. The Görden »Children’s special wards« was a »role model« for other institutions. As an expert at the »T4 Centre«, he also decided on the life and death of thousands of adult patients. He co-wrote the »euthanasia Act« and was in favour of »youth protection camps«. After the end of the war, he became a doctor in the camps in Sachsenhausen and Torgau. After his release from prison, he went to the FRG. From 1954, he was head of child and adolescent psychiatry at the Lower Saxony State Hospital in Wunstorf. There he tested medication on children in care without their knowledge. A criminal investigation was opened against him in 1962 and discontinued in 1966. His son, Hans Heinze Junior, also took part in drug trials on children in care until the 1990s. Hans Heinze died in 1983 at the age of 87.
