New York, NY, May 28, 2008 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed outrage over a German medical association's decision to honor a doctor who was a member of the Nazi SS and is accused of sending more than 900 disabled patients to their deaths under the Nazi euthanasia program during the Holocaust.

The German Federation of Internal Medicine awarded Doctor Hans-Joachim Sewering the Guenther-Budelmann medal, its highest honor.

"The decision to honor an accused war criminal, one who is alleged to have used medicine for harm, is an insult to those who have suffered under the Nazis, and besmirches the international standing of your organization," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  "Dr. Sewering was a member of the Nazi SS and witnesses have accused him of involvement in the intentional starvation and drugging of over 900 mentally and physically disabled patients during World War II."

In a letter to the medical association's president, Dr. Wolfgang Wesiack, Mr. Foxman noted that ADL has worked for years to hold Dr. Sewering accountable for his Nazi involvement and have been frustrated by the Bavarian authorities' reluctance to bring him to justice.

Dr. Sewering's alleged actions during World War II led the United States Department of Justice to place him on its immigration watch list, effectively barring him from entering the U.S.