Julius Hallervorden (21 October 1882 – 29 May 1965) was a German physician and neuroscientist.
In 1938, he became the head of the Neuropathology Department of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research.
He was a member of the Nazi Party, and admitted to knowingly performing much of his research on the brains of executed prisoners and participated in the action T4 euthanasia program.In a conversation with Leo Alexander, a Jewish Austrian neurologist and Holocaust refugee who was forced to emigrate to the United States during World War II, Hallervorden said the following of his participation in the T4 program:
Hallervorden: "Look here now, boys.
If you are going to kill all those people, at least take the brains out so that the material can be utilized.” They asked me, “ How many can you examine?” and so I told them ...
the more the better".
Along with Hugo Spatz, Hallervorden is credited with the discovery of Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome (now referred to as Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration).
After World War II, Hallervorden became President of the German Neuropathological Society and continued his research at the Max Planck Institute in Giessen, Germany.