The Nazi Euthanasia Program
By: Austin Darnell
Works Cited
- Dorman, Jennifer, ed. The Right to Die. Detroit, MI: Greenhaven, 2010. Print.
- "Holocaust History." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 6 Jan. 2011. Web. Jan.-Feb. 2012. <http://www.ushmm.org/>.
- Yount, Lisa. Euthanasia. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 2002. Print.
The Nazi Euthanasia Program
- Euthanasia- Induced death of one person who is terminally ill and would suffer more otherwise.
- The Nazis killed all who were considered as undisirable
- It was the Nazi program for killing the mentally and physically disabled
- They believed that the disabled were a genetic and financial burden on Germany
- It was the precursor to the Holocaust, occuring two years before hand
- The Euthanasia program has left a lasting impression on many German families
- The first Nazi mass murder program
- Utilized to "restore" the racial integrity of Germany
- Many families were left uncertain of the fate of their relatives and never found out until much later on
- Many victims were already institutionalized beforehand
- Inorder to prevent protesting, the Nazis streamed movies like Clint Eastwood's, Million Dollar Baby, to give the impression that euthanasia as an ok thing
- So many hospitals were emptied out, that they were used as barracks and munitions departments
- The child Euthanasia program started in the summer of 1939
- All disabled children under three were reported to the government
- It was Germany's experiment of mass murder before the Holocaust began
- The Euthanasia program took a total of over 200,000 lives in all of its phases
- The children were admitted to special wings of the hospitals and killed by lethal injection or starvation
- The age limit was then extended to people seventeen and below
- Thus far, over 5,000 people had been killed
- Hitler then signed a secret authorization to extend the program to institutionalized adults
- They also utilized gas vans as a means of extermination
- The authorization was then back dated to September 1, 1939, to avoid suspicion
- The T4 program was developed that same fall to continue the killing
Euthanasia Before and during the War
Euthanasia's Original meaning and interpretation
- The program also extended its reach to Germany's territories outside of their country
Nazi euthanasia's impact on Germany
The "Ending" of the program and the beginning of Phase 2
- In Pomerania, Prussia, and occupied Poland the SS and police force started to hold mass shootings to murder patients
- The victims were gassed to death with Carbon Monoxide and cremated
- The remains were compiled into a large pile, where ashes were contained and sent to the family with a fake means of death
- After an uprising from the families and the clergy, Hitler ordered a false halt to the program in 1941
- The program had taken the lives of 70,273 people from January, 1940, to August, 1941
- Local authorities determined the pace of the killings
- Lethal injection and drug overdose were the new employed tactics
- The child euthanasia program continued as planned
- The killings became much more secretive