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Nicole Freeman
Mr. Hawkins
Modern World History P, Period 6
10 April 2016
Murder of the Disabled (Euthanasia Programs)
The Holocaust is known for the millions of Jewish people that were systematically killed
by Adolf Hitler. He believed that Aryans were a superior race, and those beneath them should be
enslaved, and eventually crushed. Eugenics is a science focused on the improvement of the
human population based on controlled breeding. This is what the Nazis warped and used to
justify the murder of so many, and the Jewish people were not the only ones being targeted.
People with mental and physical disabilities were seen as a burden to society and something had
to be done about them, even disabled Aryans.
The first step was sterilization. Before Hitler, the United States led the world in
forced sterilizations. Between 1907 and 1939, more than 30,000 people in twenty-nine states
were sterilized, many of them unknowingly or against their will, while they were
incarcerated in prisons or institutions for the mentally ill (Website #2). Obviously, the idea
of sterilization was not new and many people accepted the idea. Hitler decided to try this practice
as the first step. He created a law, taking into consideration the illnesses that could affect the
future generations. The "Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases",
proclaimed July 14, 1933, forced the sterilization of all persons who suffered from diseases
considered hereditary, such as mental illness (schizophrenia and manic depression),

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retardation ("congenital feeble-mindedness"), physical deformity, epilepsy, blindness,
deafness, and severe alcoholism (Website #2). Many people were unaware of being sterilized
and didnt want it. The usual method of sterilization was vasectomy and ligation of ovarian
tubes of women (Website #2). Women died more often than men during these operations
because of the risks of ligation. Along with this law, the Third Reich stepped up its
propaganda against the disabled, regularly labeling them life unworthy of life or useless
eaters and highlighting their burden upon society (Website #1). The regime was concerned
people would speak out against these acts, so propaganda was an effective way to rally more
support. For example, Popular films such as Das Erbe (Inheritance) helped build public
support for government policies by stigmatizing the mentally ill and the handicapped and
highlighting the costs of care. School mathematics books posed such questions as: The
construction of a lunatic asylum costs 6 million marks. How many houses at 15,000 marks
each could have been built for that amount? (Website #2). Even children were subjected to
the propaganda, creating disdain for the disabled at an early age. The mistreatment did not stop
sterilization. The Third Reich eventually began to murder anyone they saw fit.
Euthanasia programs began soon after the start of sterilization. However,
euthanasia referred to the systematic killing of the institutionalized mentally and
physically disabled. The secret operation was code-named T4, in reference to the street
address (Tiergartenstrasse 4) of the program's coordinating office in Berlin (Website #1).
Although brutal, it did not come as a surprise for some. In 1935 Hitler stated privately that
in the event of war, [he] would take up the question of euthanasia and enforce it because
such a problem would be more easily solved during wartime (Website #2). He had
planned it carefully, and succeeded in killing many disabled people because of this tactic. The
value of life was lessened when so many people were dying anyway in the war, so people would
not protest so easily. Many people in the medical practice thought of the deaths as mercy

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killings to relieve people of their suffering. The hospital at Eglfing-Haar, under the
direction of Hermann Pfannmuller, M.D., slowly starved many of the disabled children in
its care until they died of natural causes (Website #3). Starvation was a popular tactic for
killing people of all ages. Over time Pfannmuller set up Hungerhauser (starvation houses)
for the elderly. By the end of 1941, euthanasia was simply normal hospital routine
(Website #3). No age group was left untouched. Infants were never even given a chance to
improve. At first, there were appeal courts before someone was killed for people to protest and
argue why they shouldnt be killed, but eventually, Doctors were encouraged to decide on
their own who should live or die. Killing became part of hospital routine as infants,
children, and adults were put to death by starvation, poisoning, and injections (Website
#2). The doctors also tried gas chambers disguised as showers to kill patients. This was the gas
chambers trial period before being used to kill Jewish people in concentration camps. Although
these programs started as secrets, word eventually got out to the German citizens.
One of the first clues for citizens was that, Ashes from cremated victims were taken
from a common pile and placed in urns without regard for accurate labeling. One urn was
sent to each victim's family, along with a death certificate listing a fictive cause and date of
death. The sudden death of thousands of institutionalized people, whose death certificates
listed strangely similar causes and places of death, raised suspicions (Website #1). Things
like bobby pins would end up in males ashes. As people began to question what was really going
on, public figures began to speak out. By 1941, the supposedly secret euthanasia program
is generally known about in Germany. Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen of Muenster
denounces the killings in a public sermon on August 3, 1941 (Website #1). As respected
figures spoke out, more and more citizens began to criticize the government and the program.
Eventually, Mounting public criticism of the "euthanasia" killings prompts Adolf Hitler to
order the end of the program (Website #1). Although the program had ended, minorities and
disabled people were still targeted by Nazis.

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In all, around 250,000 mentally and physically handicapped people had been killed by
euthanasia programs. Even when the programs ended, murders continued in secret, in individual
cases. Hitler and the Nazi party continued on their quest to create a better race of people, and
murdered countless others on their quest.