One Hundred Years of Colposcopy: Reconciling Its Auschwitz Past.

Previous descriptions of colposcopy's development in medical literature obscure the dark history of its earliest days, arising within the center of German Nazism. The pioneers of colposcopy benefited from the Nazi government's public health focus and exploited the environment fostered by the Nazi medical establishment. They made use of the apparatus of the Auschwitz concentration camp to position colposcopy for expanded postwar adoption, ultimately accomplishing Hinselmann's stated goal that colposcopy become a routine part of gynecologic examination and care. This historical exposition clarifies the Nazi past of colposcopy, highlights the important role that unethical treatment of victims of Auschwitz played in cementing this procedure within standard cervical cancer screening programs globally, and offers steps to reckon with this tragic legacy.