Heinrich Gross facts for kids

Heinrich Gross (14 November 1915 – 15 December 2005) was an Austrian psychiatrist, medical doctor and neurologist, a reputed expert as a leading court-appointed psychiatrist. Gross was head of the Spiegelgrund children's psychiatric clinic for two years during World War II.

Youth and education

Heinrich Gross was born in Vienna on 14 November 1915. His parents, Karl and Petronella Gross, were in the wool and knitwear business. His father died before Heinrich was born and his mother placed him in a Catholic boarding school for his early education. He graduated from a public high school in 1934 and received a medical degree in 1939 from the University of Vienna.

In 1932 Gross became a member of the Hitler Youth and joined the Sturmabteilung in 1934. He remained a member throughout the period 1934 to 1938 when these organizations were outlawed in Austria. After Germany annexed Austria in 1938, Gross joined the Nazi Party.

Post-war career

In the same year of his overturned manslaughter case, Gross was allowed to resume his research at Rosenhügel. In 1955, he completed his training as a specialist in nervous and mental diseases and became the head prison doctor or physician in the former Hospital and nursing home Am Steinhof. In 1957 he became the Chief court psychiatrist for men's mental institutions. There he worked with the justice system in insanity cases. He got promoted to the management of the "Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for the study of the abnormalities of the nervous system" created specially for him in 1968. Gross worked as a reviewer and for years was considered the most busy court expert in Austria. In 1975 the Republic of Austria awarded him the medal für Wissenschaft und Kunst 1, of which he was stripped of in 2003.

In 1975 it was realized that he had been involved in illegal killings during the Nazi occupation of Austria. Gross was stripped of many awards but continued serving as a court expert until he came under investigation in 1997 for nine counts of murder.

Trial

Gross was placed on trial for atrocities in 1999, however the trial was suspended in 2000 due to his dementia and Parkinsons disease. Gross died on 15 December 2005 aged 90.