Heinrich von Hayek

Heinrich Hayek (born Heinrich Franz Felix Edler von Hayek; 29 October 1900 – 28 September 1969) was an Austrian anatomist and comparative zoologist. He had been a member of the Nazi Party from 1938 (member number 5518677) and was involved in anatomical studies, several made on the bodies of victims executed by the Third Reich. A major and influential work resulting from this was a book on the human lung Die Menschliche Lunge.

Early life

Von Hayek was born in Vienna, son of physician and professor of botany August von Hayek (1871–1928) and grandson of zoologist Gustav von Hayek. His younger brother Erich Gustav became a professor of chemistry, while his older brother Friedrich August became a Nobel prize winner in economics in 1974. The family had been given a noble title which was taken away in Austria in 1919.

Hayek published 17 papers between 1938 and 1945, and he noted in a 1940 manuscript that his studies of the interlobar septa of the lungs was best carried out on the lungs of young executed persons which had been made available to him. Nine of the 17 studies noted that the bodies used were of execution victims. The University of Würzburg received 910 bodies, of which 120 came from well-known execution sites. The anatomical institute received 80 bodies killed by carbon monoxide at a psychiatric institution under a program of euthanasia headed by Werner Heyde. According to the questionnaire that Hayek had to fill during denazification, Hayek had to take an oath of secrecy under a high-ranking SS officer regarding the origin of the bodies. Hayek made use of his network of connections to rehabilitate himself after the war. He became a non-tenured professor at the University of Würzburg in November 1947.

In 1952, he moved to Vienna, where he became a professor working until his death. He also held the chair of histology and embryology in 1957 and served as dean of medicine in 1960–61.

Death He died on 28 September 1969 in Vienna.