To what Extent was Hitler’s Euthanasia policy a distinct “Nazi” Policy?

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Contents:

SectionA_______________________________________________________3

Section B_______________________________________________________ 3

Section C_______________________________________________________ 4

Section D_______________________________________________________ 5

Section E______________________________________________________ 6

Section F______________________________________________________7

Appendices_____________________________________________________8

Section A: Plan of Investigation

This report investigates how the Hitler’s Euthanasia policy emerged and to the reason why Nazis had a drive to kill those people they considered “classified” as being “unworthy of life”. The people in question, Hitler referred to as a threat to “race hygiene” and a huge threat to the “Aryan Race.”This idea of Euthanasia, which basically meant the slaughtering of mentally and physically ill patients, was in sense Hitler’s way of enforcing racial hygiene with a non-voluntary euthanasia. This also lead the way to new fresh ideas for the establishment of massive concentration camps with the main purpose of killing Jews, gypsies and homosexuals etc. Hitler considered them inferior and maybe stretched the idea of euthanasia too far to be considered inside the policy boundaries. Does this suggest that this was not a distinctive Nazi policy? In my investigation I establish this idea using six source, four being primary and secondary websites, one primary picture taken at one of the camps and a lecture given to me by Aaron Sternetsky which is a very valuable source.

Section B: Summary of Evidence:

Before the breakout of World War II, The Nazi’s carried out a program called euthanasia which is now condemned. They involuntarily euthanized children under the age of three who showed characteristics of mental or physical disabilities. Hitler later on gave the policy a new angle by trying to rid Germany of the Jews influence in politics. He did this by euthanizing them and justified it with medical metaphors stating Jews are the cancer that must be eradicated. A mental home in Bernburg that held 132 beds was established in 1875. Not until the summer of 1940 did “Gemeinnützige Stiftung für Anstaltspflege” (Public Welfare Foundation for Mental Nursinghomes) lease a part of the compound. Hitler had a better idea for the compound and had it become one of the vast amounts of Euthanasia centres in Germany, while still remaining a hospital. The events described about what actually took place in these so called Euthanasia institutions around Germany and Austria was horrific. They would bring buses full of people at which point they were examined and most probably sent to their deaths. One of the gas chambers situated in Bernburg, displayed the rooms. In the area Bernburg, the system and techniques used was exactly the same in all of the Euthanasia camps. Adults, children, physical or mentally handicapped all fell but victim to the dreadful euthanasia project. The patients chosen to go to these institutions were handpicked by T4 doctors, code name for euthanasia project. These doctors hardly ever actually examined any of the patients to come through but instead just looked at their medical files. The people were transported in buses by various T4 personnel to the assortment of unique institutions in Germany. On arrival to their destination they would be told to participate in a physical evaluation and the people that had valuables, gold teeth etc, were marked in a red cross to be used later for scientific research and thus were brought elsewhere. The red crossed people would be used as a test dummy for the key experimentation of the age but at a cost of many unfortunate people who got sent to the “operating tables”, leaving the rest to burn immediately. The ashes collected from the cremated victims were taken from the common pile and placed in urns and the families would pay to collect the urns. The families were also sent a certificate of death along with a fictional listing of the cause and the date of death, which usually occurred three weeks after the death so no suspicion would be aroused. According to a letter, the people were unaware at the time that they would be going to their imminent deaths.Although the T4 personnel tried not to arouse suspicion, this was however inevitable as there were thousands of deaths of institutionalised people and other similar death causes. Letters were obtained from families writing to the doctors and asking them where their children or family were and how their deaths occurred. A map shows the different institutions where the physical and mental patients were killed. It also shows how they were killed, which was either with medicine overdose or by gas.

Section C: Evaluation of sources:

Source A

Source A (see appendix 9) is a picture taken on a trip I took to Bernburg, it shows one of the gas chambers. The picture is part of the room which shows the showers in Bernburg. This was a particularly useful Primary source, because I have family members who were running less illicit projects which were indirectly connected to the T4 project. The reason behind the thought to why the Nazi’s killed so many people in the most inhuman and dirty manner was beyond anything. Reasons for the usefulness of this ...