Child euthanasia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Child euthanasia is a trivializing term for the killing organized under National Socialism of mentally and physically disabled children and adolescents as well as those with abnormal behavior. At least 5,000 people fell victim to child euthanasia in over 30 so-called “ children's departments ”.

prehistory

The racial ideology of National Socialism, which was shaped by social Darwinism , unreservedly acknowledged the maxim that the stronger would always prevail on the level of individuals as well as peoples and states. This has a natural law right on his side. Any conflicting religious and humanitarian aspects would ultimately turn out to be unnatural. Only those people can prove themselves in this constant "struggle for survival" in the long run, which promote their best and necessarily eliminate all those who weaken them. In addition, only a people as pure as possible could assert themselves in the “struggle for existence”. In order to maintain or improve the Nordic-Germanic race, the laws of eugenics or (biologically oriented) racial hygiene would have to be strictly observed; that is, the promotion of the “hereditary healthy” and the removal of the “sick”. These would have to be "eradicated" in the sense of a natural selection. The eugenics understood in this way finally became the basis of the National Socialist hereditary health policy and elevated to the rank of state doctrine. The principle of “ destroying life unworthy of life ” was used to justify the murder of the mentally ill, hereditary diseases and the severely handicapped in the context of the murders of the sick during the Nazi era .

Hitler declared in 1929 in the Nazi Party in Nuremberg that the "elimination from 700,000 to 800,000 of the most vulnerable annually by one million newborns mean a boost forces of the nation and not a weakening." He was able to refer to scientific capacities who transferred the Darwinian selection theory to humans and formulated the utopia of "human discipline" through racial hygiene, such as Alfred Ploetz , the founder of German racial hygiene. As early as 1895, this demanded that human progeny not

“To leave a tipsy hour to chance. [...] If it nevertheless turns out that the newborn is a weak and failing child, the medical college, which decides on the Society's citizenship letter, will give it a gentle death, let's say with a small dose of morphine [...] "

In 1935, Hitler also announced to Reichsärzteführer Gerhard Wagner at the Nuremberg Reich Party Congress that he would seek to “get rid of the incurably mentally ill”, at the latest in the event of a future war.

The elimination of the "undesirable elements" was put into practice under the misleading term "euthanasia" with the beginning of the Second World War . The petitions from parents to the Chancellery of the Fuehrer (KdF), who asked for the granting of a “death by grace” for their disabled children, were used as an external reason and justifying pretext .

Phases of Nazi "euthanasia"

The murders during the Nazi era can be roughly differentiated into the following phases:

  1. Child “euthanasia” from 1939 to 1945
  2. Adult “euthanasia” from 1939 to 1945
    1. " Aktion T4 ", the centralized gas murders from January 1940 to August 1941
    2. Decentralized but partly centrally controlled drug "euthanasia" or killing through malnutrition from September 1941 to 1945
  3. Invalid or prisoner “euthanasia”, known as “ Aktion 14f13 ” from April 1941 to December 1944
    1. First phase from April 1941 to April 1944
    2. Second phase from April 1944 to December 1944
  4. " Aktion Brandt " from June 1943 to 1945 (from the more recent research, however, no longer directly counted as part of the "euthanasia" complex.)

According to the latest estimates, around 260,000 people fell victim to the “war on the sick”.

For an overview, historical classification and development of Nazi euthanasia, see Euthanasia as a term for Nazi murders .

The "Child K." case

In the literature, the so-called “Kind K.” case is regarded as the immediate reason for the start of organized child “euthanasia”. According to the findings of the medical historian Udo Benzenhöfer from 2006, the name “Knauer case”, which was also used up to now, should no longer be used .

This case concerned the request of the parents of a severely physically and mentally handicapped infant to be granted the “ mercy death ”, which was received by the Chancellery of the Führer (KdF) at a non-verifiable time before the middle of 1939 . This office was an institution of the NSDAP , which was directly subordinate to Hitler as a private chancellery and in 1939 comprised about 195 employees. Main Office IIb, headed by Hans Hefelmann and his deputy Richard von Hegener, was responsible for “requests for grace” . Head of Hauptamt II and thus the superior of those named was Oberdienstleiter Viktor Brack , one of the leading organizers of the National Socialist "euthanasia".

The reports on this fact are essentially based on statements made by the accused in post-war trials, in which the "Kind K." case is repeatedly referred to. According to statements by the French journalist Philippe Aziz about an interview that he is said to have conducted in 1973 with a “Kressler” family in Pomßen , after further research, Benzenhöfer came to the conclusion that the “child K.” was born on 20th Gerhard Herbert Kretzschmar was born in Pomßen in February 1939 and died on July 25, 1939. In 2007, however, Benzenhöfer learned from the sister of the deceased child that the child was not disabled at all and had died of natural causes. Benzenhöfer had to revise his assessment.

The child's identity is therefore still open. New research opens up the possibility that it may have been a girl who died in March 1938 in the children's hospital in Leipzig-Reudnitz . This children's hospital was directly connected to the Leipzig University Children's Hospital and its director Werner Catel . The post-war statements made by members of the Führer Chancellery (KdF) so far in the academic literature must therefore be critically questioned. An exact dating of the events around the case of the "child K." is not possible (2008) on the basis of the statements. It is conceivable that the period from the beginning of 1938 (for the execution of the aforementioned killing) to the beginning / middle of 1939 (for the start of the specific planning phase) is realistic. If the case of the "child K." actually took place in March 1938, which there is a lot to suggest, then the case can at best be described as an impetus for child "euthanasia", but not as the specific cause.

According to the statements of those involved, the request was preceded by a conversation between the child's parents and the director of the Leipzig University Children's Hospital, Werner Catel, on May 23, 1939, about the life chances of their deformed child. According to Catel himself, he believed that killing the child soon was the best way out for everyone involved. However, since active euthanasia was also a criminal offense in the Third Reich, Catel recommended that the parents submit a request to Hitler via the Führer’s office. In a statement before the examining magistrate on November 14, 1960, Hefelmann commented on this application as follows:

“I processed this application because it fell within my portfolio. Since a decision from Hitler was requested, I forwarded it to the head of Main Office I of the KdF, Albert Bormann , without comment . Since a pure act of grace was requested, I did not consider the participation of the Reich Minister of the Interior and the Reich Minister of Justice to be necessary. Since, as far as I know, Hitler had not yet made a decision regarding such requests, it also seemed impractical to me to involve other authorities. "

Hefelmann's deputy, Richard von Hegener, added the memories of his boss:

“Already about half a year before the outbreak of the war, requests from incurable sick people or particularly seriously injured people were receiving more and more requests to be released from their unbearable suffering. These requests were particularly tragic because, due to the existing laws, a doctor was not allowed to take such requests into account. Since the office, as we were repeatedly told, was supposed to deal with those cases on Hitler's orders that could not be solved legally, Dr. Hefelmann and I too were obliged to submit a number of such requests to Hitler's personal physician, then senior physician Dr. Brandt to submit and obtain a decision from Hitler what should be done with such requests. Dr. Brandt announced soon after that, after his lecture, Hitler had decided to grant such requests, provided that the physician treating the patient and a newly formed medical committee had proven the actual incurability of the disease. "

Brandt said the following about the case of the "child K." at the Nuremberg doctors' trial :

“I myself know of a request that was forwarded to the Führer in 1939 through his adjutantage. The point was that the father of a deformed child turned to the Fiihrer and asked that the life of this child or creature be taken away. At the time Hitler gave me the order to take care of this matter and to drive to Leipzig immediately - it had happened in Leipzig - to find confirmation of what was stated there on the spot. It was a child who was born blind, seemed idiotic, and who was also missing a leg and part of an arm. […] He [Hitler] gave me the assignment to speak to the doctors where this child was being looked after in order to determine whether the father's statements were correct. In case they are correct, I should tell the doctors on his behalf that they can perform euthanasia. It was important that this be done to the parents in such a way that they themselves could not feel burdened by this euthanasia at any other time. So that these parents should not have the impression that they themselves caused the child's death. I was further instructed to say that if these doctors were themselves involved in any legal proceedings as a result of these measures, Hitler would see to it that this would be suppressed. At that time, Martin Bormann was instructed to notify the then Minister of Justice Gürtner about this Leipzig case. [...] The doctors took the point of view that keeping such a child alive is not really justifiable. It was pointed out that it is perfectly natural that in maternity hospitals, under certain circumstances, the doctors themselves would give euthanasia in such a case without further discussing it, no precise indication was given. "

"Reich Committee for the Scientific Recording of Hereditary and Constitutional Serious Ailments"

This first child “euthanasia” led to a decisive acceleration in the implementation of the latently planned “racial hygienic eliminations” that began with the “ Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Offspring ” of July 14, 1933 and in several steps (see Action T4 , Background and historical classification) led to child and finally adult “euthanasia”. It can be assumed that the decision-making process for both “euthanasia” groups was almost parallel.

Hefelmann described the further development:

“The Knauer case led Hitler to authorize Brandt and Bouhler to proceed in a similar manner to the Knauer child. I cannot say whether this authorization was given in writing or orally. In any case, Brandt did not show us a written authorization. This authorization must have been granted when Brandt reported to Hitler that the Knauer case had been settled. Brandt told me personally that this authorization had been granted in this form. At the same time Hitler had ordered that all requests of this kind, which would be addressed to the Reich Ministry of the Interior or the Presidential Chancellery, were to be dealt with under the sole responsibility of the KdF. As a result of this order, the Reich Ministry of the Interior and the Presidential Chancellery were asked to forward such requests, if they were received there, to the KdF for further processing. In this way, the then Ministerialrat in the Reich Ministry of the Interior, Dr. Linden, as far as I know, was involved in these measures for the first time. The matter was treated as a secret Reich matter from the start . Shortly afterwards, when Professor Brandt commissioned me to put together an advisory body, this had to be done from the point of view of the fact that it was a matter of a secret Reich affair. The result was that only those doctors etc. were selected who were known to be 'positive'. Another reason for the selection based on this point of view was the fact that Hitler had ordered that his department, i.e. H. So the 'KdF', outwardly as the authority processing these things was not allowed to appear. "

The matter was first discussed in the closest circle with Hefelmann and von Hegener, the head of the main office II of the KdF, Viktor Brack and the clerk for sanatoriums and nursing homes in Department IV (health care and public welfare) of the Reich Ministry of the Interior, Herbert Linden . The preparatory committee for the child “euthanasia” that is now to be organized included Karl Brandt, the ophthalmologist Hellmuth Unger , the pediatrician Ernst Wentzler , the youth psychiatrist Hans Heinze and, most likely, Werner Catel . The pending questions, which also related to the preparation of the now imminent adult "euthanasia", were clarified in a short but effective planning phase, so that just three weeks after the first "euthanasia" case, a cover organization could be established that under the name "Reich Committee for the Scientific Recording of Hereditary and Constitutional Severe Sufferings" began with the first concrete measures to record potential victims. Behind the aforementioned front organization were primarily Hefelmann and von Hegener from Amt IIb of the KdF, which at Hitler's request should not appear to the outside world, and as the only representative of a state authority, Linden from the Reich Ministry of the Interior. The so-called "Reich Committee" was therefore a pure "letter box company" (Berlin W 9, Postfach 101). The correspondence went through this locker to the KdF, Vossstraße 4, located in the Berlin New Reich Chancellery .

Recording of victims and "assessment"

The central document was a circular issued by the Reich Minister of the Interior on August 18, 1939 Ref .: IVb 3088/39 - 1079 Mi, which stipulated the group of those affected and the manner in which they were recorded with the note “Strictly confidential!”. Thereafter, doctors and midwives as well as maternity institutions, obstetrical departments and children's hospitals, if a senior doctor was not available there or was unable to report, were obliged to notify the responsible health department on a form,

"If the newborn child is suspected of having the following serious congenital ailments:

  1. Idiocy and mongolism (especially cases associated with blindness and deafness ),
  2. Microcephaly ,
  3. Severe or progressive hydrocephalus
  4. Malformations of all kinds, especially missing limbs, severe clefts in the head and spine, etc.,
  5. Paralysis including Little's disease "

A sample of a registration form was sent as an attachment, which the health authorities had to request from the higher administrative authority as required. However, this registration form was withdrawn by a decree of June 7, 1940 and replaced by an improved one. The compensation of RM 2 per advertisement, which the reportable midwives were entitled to “for their effort”, was unique.

Initially, only children up to the age of three were required to register. The prescribed registration forms gave the impression that the aim of recording them was to provide special, special medical care. The medical officers forwarded the completed registration forms to the "Reich Committee", where the Office IIb of the KdF behind it, with the two medical laymen Hefelmann and von Hegener, sorted out the cases that, in their opinion, were for admission to a "children's department", that is, for the “Euthanasia” was out of the question. Of the 100,000 or so registration forms received by 1945, around 80,000 were discarded. For the professional assessment of the remaining 20,000 registration forms, the “Reich Committee” appointed three experts, most of whom had already belonged to the preparatory committee, namely Werner Catel, Hans Heinze and Ernst Wentzler. Hefelmann said later,

"That Professor Heinze and Dr. Wentzler [...] with enthusiasm and Professor Catel out of conviction affirmed the euthanasia and therefore made himself available as an expert without any compulsion. "

They then received the registration forms one after the other, so that the third reviewer knew how his two predecessors had decided. The judgment on the life or death of the children was only made on the basis of the registration form, without the reviewers inspecting the (not submitted) medical files or seeing the children. If a child was judged to be a “euthanasia” case, the reviewers entered a “+” and vice versa a “-”. If, in the opinion of the experts, no clear decision could be made, a “B” for “observation” was noted. Although these children were temporarily put on hold by the “euthanasia”, they were also assigned to a “children's department”. After a closer examination, the doctor there had to submit a corresponding observation report to the “Reich Committee”. The decisive criterion for a “positive” assessment was the predicted incapacity for work and education. According to the senior physician Walter Schmidt , who headed the “children's department” of the Eichberg state hospital , 95% of the assigned children came with the authorization for “treatment”, the cover name for killing. Only the remaining 5% were further observed and examined.

The responsible health department and the designated “children's department” received notification from the “Reich Committee” about its decision and allocation. The medical officer had to initiate the briefing and notify the parents. These, on the other hand, were deceived about the actual purpose of the briefing by simulating special care and treatment for their children in specially set up specialist departments. Coercive measures were initially refrained from. If parents persistently refused to consent to their child's admission, from September 1941, however, the threat of deprivation of custody could be threatened.

In the first half of 1941, the age of the affected children was raised to 16 years to prevent mentally or physically handicapped adolescents from being gassed as victims of a "summary method" as part of Action T4. The circle of those affected was expanded more and more. In addition to the mentally and physically handicapped, all so-called psychopaths were gradually recorded. In the Kalmenhof sanatorium , the “community unfit” (that is, poorly educated welfare pupils) were sent to the Nazi killing center Hadamar for gassing or, after the T4 stop, for killing with medication. For this purpose, a special “education home” was set up in Hadamar. At least 40 to 45 of the inmates fell victim to the murders here by means of drug overdoses, as was also practiced in adult “euthanasia”.

"Children's departments"

By circular of July 1, 1940 Az .: IVb-2140/1079 Mi, which has now been published in the Ministerialamtsblatt of the Reich and Prussian Ministry of the Interior, the ministry announced that the "Reich Committee"

"Has now set up a youth psychiatric department in the state institute in Görden near Brandenburg aH, which, under specialist management, takes advantage of all therapeutic options available on the basis of the latest scientific findings."

In fact, the first “children's department” was set up in October 1939 in the Görden State Institution . The head of this institute was the "Reichsausschuß" expert Hans Heinze . In his testimony on May 17, 1961, Hefelmann was able to recall “about 30 children's departments”. According to the current state of research, it can be assumed that there are around 37 “children's departments” that have been set up in existing healing and nursing homes, children's hospitals and university children's clinics.

The practical difficulties in executing the orders can be seen in a further circular issued by the Reich Minister of the Interior of September 20, 1941 Az .: IVb-1981 / 41-1079 Mi. State Secretary and Reich Health Leader Leonardo Conti pointed out the fundamental importance of the matter for the national community. He made it clear once again that sick children were asylumed

"A neglect of healthy children, for example, in the family is prevented [...] The Reich Committee for the Scientific Assessment of Hereditary and Constitutional Serious Ailments has put excellent experts in the medical special field in question at the service of its tasks [...] The Reich Committee continues to stand Means are available to intervene to help in certain cases in which the parents are not in need of help but can hardly bear the costs themselves [...] "

The medical officers were instructed to monitor the midwives' duty to report and to support the work of the Reich Committee in every way, and if necessary to exert the necessary pressure on the parents.

Children as objects for medical research

Even the children who had already been admitted with a “treatment” authorization were usually not killed immediately, but sometimes served for months of scientific research. For example, there was close cooperation between the head of the “children's department” in the Eichberg state hospital , Walter Schmidt , and the director of the Heidelberg University Mental Hospital , Carl Schneider . These victims were clinically observed in detail in Heidelberg and then transferred to Eichberg, where they were killed and their brains removed. The investigation of 52 handicapped children is proven, of which at least 21 were killed in Eichberg. Schneider then received the prepared brains for his histopathological examinations.

One of the beneficiaries of child “euthanasia” was the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (KWI) for brain research in Berlin-Buch (its successor is now the Max Planck Institute for brain research in Frankfurt am Main). The head of the brain histopathology department, Julius Hallervorden , collected over 600 brains from “euthanasia” victims at the KWI. In the Nazi killing center in Bernburg he dissected the corpses of children who had come to Bernburg from the Görden state center to be killed. The local gassing doctor Heinrich Bunke had been specially trained for brain sections at the KWI.

But also some of the children's departments were connected to research departments where clinical trials, diagnostic experiments and anatomical research were carried out.

Even after the war, Heinrich Gross , the former head of the children's department “Am Spiegelgrund” at the Viennese sanatorium “Am Steinhof” , carried out pathological-anatomical examinations on brain specimens that still came from the holdings of the former children's department. Several scientific articles by Gross in the 1950s and 1960s were based on this material.

Letter written by Ernst Illing to the parents of a child murdered in the children's department at Am Spiegelgrund in Vienna.

killing

The children were killed by staggered and overdosed barbiturates such as Luminal , Veronal , Trional or morphine , which were mixed with the patients' food or injected as an alleged "anti-typhoid". These led to respiratory paralysis, circulatory and kidney failure or pneumonia. In this way, a seemingly natural, immediate cause of death could always be attested. The procedure was developed as a so-called " Luminalschema " by the later medical director of " Aktion T4 ", Hermann Paul Nitsche , in early 1940. As a rule, the affected children died of pneumonia / bronchopneumonia as a result of the cumulative effects of the drugs. In individual clinical pictures, however, death occurred due to withdrawal of medication, for example in epilepsy a status epilepticus was deliberately triggered.

Number of victims

The victims of child “euthanasia” are estimated to be at least 5,000. However, since older children and adolescents in particular were also killed as part of the T4 campaign and were killed in some institutions by drugs and systematic malnutrition without reporting to the T4 headquarters, the total number of victims is likely to be between 5,000 and 10,000.

It is assumed that child euthanasia was not only planned for the duration of the war, but that it was intended to consistently destroy the "useless" as a long-term measure.

Children with article in Wikipedia:

Criminal penalties

For the prosecution of the perpetrators and those responsible for child “euthanasia”, it is recognized that only a small number have been charged and an even smaller number have been sentenced to penalties. A very significant number of those affected were able to continue to work after 1945. Anyone who was not prosecuted in the first few years after the war had a good chance of going unpunished. A social rethinking and a revised assessment of the National Socialist injustice measures, beginning in the 1980s, led to a late stepping up of criminal investigations. Due to the large time lag, these efforts generally had no significant consequences for those responsible at the time.

The protagonists of child “euthanasia” with regard to their criminal prosecution are listed in a table below.

Surname function Prosecution
Philipp Bouhler Head of the KdF, instructed in writing by Hitler to carry out the "euthanasia" program Suicide on May 10, 1945 in Fischhausen near Zell am See
Viktor Brack Head of Main Office II of the KdF In the physician process condemned by judgment of 20 August 1947 death and hanged in Landsberg am Lech on June 2, 1948
Werner Blankenburg Head of Office IIa of the KdF, Bracks representative Submerged in Stuttgart after the war with a false name
Karl Brandt General Commissioner for Sanitary and Health Care, instructed in writing by Hitler to carry out the “euthanasia” program Sentenced to death on August 20, 1947 at the Nuremberg doctors' trial and hanged on June 2, 1948 in Landsberg am Lech
Leonardo Conti Reich Health Leader Suicide on October 6, 1945 in the Nuremberg War Crimes Prison
Herbert Linden Ministerialrat in Department IV of the Reich Ministry of the Interior, Reich Commissioner for the sanatoriums and nursing homes, T4 chief expert Suicide on April 27, 1945 in Berlin
Hans Hefelmann Head of Office IIb of the KdF and of the "Reich Committee for the Scientific Recording of Hereditary and Constitutional Serious Ailments" Accused in the Heyde proceedings before the Limburg Regional Court , proceedings suspended on October 8, 1972 because of “permanent incapacity to stand trial”
Richard von Hegener Representative Hefelmann in Office IIb of the KdF Sentenced to life imprisonment by the Magdeburg Regional Court on February 20, 1952 for crimes against humanity, released after four years
Werner Catel Director of the University Children's Hospital in Leipzig, “Reichsausschuß” expert denazified as "unencumbered" , no prosecution
Ernst Wentzler Director of the private children's clinic in Berlin-Frohnau , "Reichsausschuß" expert After preliminary investigations on April 19, 1949 by the district court of Hamburg out of prosecution, no further prosecution
Hans Heinze Director of the state institute in Görden, "Reichsausschuß" appraiser Sentenced to seven years' imprisonment by a Soviet military court in March 1946, released in October 1953, investigations by the Hanover public prosecutor's office due to illness suspended in 1966
Carl Schneider Director of the Psychiatric University Clinic in Heidelberg Suicide on December 11, 1946 while in custody in Frankfurt am Main
Hermann Paul Nitsche Director of the sanatorium and nursing home in Leipzig-Dosen, senior expert and medical director of "Aktion T4" sentenced to death by judgment of the Dresden Regional Court of July 7, 1947, and executed by guillotine on March 25, 1948 in Dresden
Hellmuth Unger Member of the committee for the initiation of child euthanasia no law enforcement

literature

  • Gerhardt Schmidt: Selection in the sanatorium 1939–1945 . New edition with additional texts, edited by Frank Schneider. Springer, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-642-25469-7 .
  • Lutz Kaelber, Raimond Reiter (Hrsg.): Children and "children's departments" in National Socialism. Commemoration and research. Lang, Frankfurt 2011, ISBN 978-3-631-61828-8 .
  • Thomas Beddies, Kristina Hübener (Ed.): Children in Nazi psychiatry. (Series of publications on the history of medicine in the state of Brandenburg, Vol. 10). Be.bra-Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-937233-14-8 .
  • Udo Benzenhöfer:
    • The good death? History of euthanasia and euthanasia. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-525-30162-3 .
    • "Children's departments" and "Nazi child euthanasia". (Studies on the history of medicine under National Socialism, vol. 1), GWAB-Verlag, Wetzlar 2000, ISBN 3-9803221-2-2 .
    • "Child and youth euthanasia" in the Reichsgau Sudetenland and in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. (Studies on the history of medicine under National Socialism, vol. 5), GWAB-Verlag, Wetzlar 2006, ISBN 978-3-9808830-8-5 .
    • The Leipzig case (alias the "Kind Knauer" case) and the planning of the Nazi "child reuthanasia". Klemm & Oelschläger, Münster 2008, ISBN 978-3-932577-98-7 .
  • Andreas Kinast: “The child cannot be trained.” Euthanasia in the Waldniel children's department 1941–1943. Series: Rheinprovinz , 18. SH-Verlag, Cologne 2010, ISBN 3-89498-259-4 .
  • Ernst Klee :
    • "Euthanasia" in the Nazi state. 11th edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-596-24326-2 .
    • What they did - what they became. Doctors, lawyers and others involved in the murder of the sick or Jews. 12th edition. Fischer, Frankfurt 2004, ISBN 3-596-24364-5 .
    • Documents on "euthanasia". Fischer, Frankfurt 1985, ISBN 3-596-24327-0 .
    • The personal lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945? Fischer, Frankfurt 2005, ISBN 3-596-16048-0 .
  • Henry Friedlander : The Road to Nazi Genocide. From euthanasia to the final solution. Berlin-Verlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-8270-0265-6 .
  • Götz Aly (ed.): Aktion T4 1939–1945. The “Euthanasia” headquarters in Tiergartenstrasse 4. Edition Hentrich, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-926175-66-4 .
  • Peter Sandner: Administration of the murder of the sick. The Nassau District Association under National Socialism. Psychosozial-Verlag, Giessen 2003, ISBN 3-89806-320-8 .
  • Christina Vanja , Steffen Haas, Gabriela Deutschle, Wolfgang Eirund, Peter Sandner (eds.): Knowledge and err. Two centuries of psychiatry history - Eberbach and Eichberg. Historical series of publications by the State Welfare Association of Hesse, sources and studies, Volume 6. Kassel 1999, ISBN 3-89203-040-5 .
  • Alexander Mitscherlich , Fred Mielke: Medicine without humanity. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 3-596-22003-3 .
  • Götz Aly, Angelika Ebbinghaus , Matthias Hamann, Friedemann Pfäfflin , Gerd Preissler (eds.): Separation and death. The clinical execution of the useless. Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-88022-950-3 .
  • Healing and Extermination under National Socialism. Tübingen Association for Folklore e. V., project group “People and Health”, Tübingen 1982
  • Angelika Ebbinghaus , Klaus Dörner (ed.): Destroying and healing . The Nuremberg Medical Trial and its Consequences. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-351-02514-9 .
  • Waltraud Häupl : The murdered children from Spiegelgrund. Commemorative documentation for the victims of Nazi child euthanasia in Vienna. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2006, ISBN 978-3-205-77473-0 .
  • Berit Lahm, Thomas Seyde, Eberhard Ulm (eds.): 505 child euthanasia crimes in Leipzig. Plöttner Verlag, Leipzig 2008, ISBN 978-3-938442-48-7 .
  • Susanne Zimmermann: Transfer to death. National Socialist “Child Euthanasia” in Thuringia. Sources on the history of Thuringia, vol. 25. State Center for Civic Education Thuringia , Erfurt 2008, ISBN 978-3-931426-91-0 .
  • Astrid Viciano: The approved murderers . In: Die Zeit , No. 42/2006 (On the exhibition Deadly Medicine - Racial Mania in National Socialism in the German Hygiene Museum Dresden)
  • Sylke Hachmeister: Cinema propaganda against the sick: the instrumentalization of the feature film “ I complain ” for the National Socialist “euthanasia program” . Nomos, Baden-Baden 1992, ISBN 3-7890-2804-5 (= Nomos-Universitätsschriften / Kulturwissenschaft, also dissertation at the University of Münster 1991).

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Völkischer Beobachter , Bavaria edition of August 7, 1929. In: Enzyklopädie des Nationalozialismus , ed. by Wolfgang Benz , Hermann Graml and Hermann Weiß , digital library, volume 25, p. 578, Directmedia, Berlin 1999.
  2. The efficiency of our race and the protection of the weak. An experiment on racial hygiene and its relationship to humane ideals, especially to socialism. Vol. 1 of the series "Basic lines of a racial hygiene". Fischer Verlag, Berlin 1895, quoted from Klee: “Euthanasia” in the Nazi state. P. 18.
  3. Angelika Ebbinghaus, Klaus Dörner (Ed.): Destroying and healing. P. 301.
  4. Mitscherlich / Mielke: Medicine without humanity. P. 183 f.
  5. ^ Sandner: Administration of the murder of the sick. P. 587 f.
  6. Hans-Walter Schmuhl : The murders of patients . In: Angelika Ebbinghaus, Klaus Dörner (ed.): Destroying and healing . Structure, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-351-02514-9 , p. 297.
  7. ↑ For organizational scheme see euthanasia display board (PDF; 28 kB)
  8. a b Udo Benzenhöfer: Correction. In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt , Vol. 104, H. 47, November 23, 2007, p. A-3232 . (PDF)
  9. Norbert Frei : Introduction. In: Norbert Frei (Hrsg.): Medicine and health policy in the Nazi era. R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1991 (= writings of the quarterly books for contemporary history. Special issue), ISBN 3-486-64534-X , pp. 7–32, p. 13.
  10. a b Udo Benzenhöfer: “Child Euthanasia” in the Third Reich. The "Kind Knauer" case. In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt , Vol. 95, H. 19, May 8, 1998, pp. A-1187 – A-1189 . (PDF)
  11. a b Udo Benzenhöfer: “Without any moral scruples” In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt , vol. 97, H. 42, October 20, 2000, pp. A-2766 – A-2772 . (PDF)
  12. Udo Benzenhöfer: The Leipzig case. P. 51 ff.
  13. a b Healing and Destroying under National Socialism. P. 172.
  14. Gauck Authority, EZVl / 1 A.1, Act of Hegener, quoted by Ulf Schmidt: the outbreak of war and euthanasia. New research results on the "Knauer Child" in 1939. ( Memento from July 12, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  15. ^ State Archives Nuremberg, United States of America v. Karl Brandt et al., Quoted from Ulf Schmidt: outbreak of war and euthanasia. New research results on the "Knauer Child" in 1939. ( Memento from July 12, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  16. Indictment of the Public Prosecutor General Frankfurt a. M. Az .: Ks 2/63 against Prof. Werner Heyde u. a., p. 117 ff., quoted from Klee: “Euthanasia” in the Nazi state. P. 78 f.
  17. See letter head Lempp letter (PDF; 109 kB) in the documents of the Baden-Württemberg State Archives on the director of the Stuttgart children's homes Karl Lempp .
  18. Quoted from Klee: "Euthanasia" in the Nazi state. P. 80.
  19. Illustrated by Klee: "Euthanasia" in the Nazi state. P. 296 f.
  20. Section 4 of the circular of August 18, 1939.
  21. ^ Hefelmann testimony before the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office on August 31, 1960 Ref .: IIIa / SK-K5526, quoted from Klee: What they did - what they became. P. 139.
  22. ^ Statement by Schmidt on December 3, 1946 in the Eichberg trial, Main State Archives, Wiesbaden Department 461 No. 32442 Volume 4, quoted from Vanja et al .: Wissen und erren. P. 223 f.
  23. Decree of the Reich Minister of the Interior of September 20, 1941 Az .: IVb 1981/41 - 1079 Mi, “Subject: Treatment of deformed newborns, etc.”, last paragraph, quoted from Klee: “Euthanasia” in the Nazi state. P. 303 f.
  24. ^ Klee: "Euthanasia" in the Nazi state. P. 379.
  25. Aly: Action T4. P. 122.
  26. ^ Sandner: Administration of the murder of the sick. P. 658.
  27. Quoted from Klee: "Euthanasia" in the Nazi state. P. 300.
  28. General Public Prosecutor Frankfurt a. M. Ks 2/63, folder T4 witnesses, quoted from Klee: “Euthanasia” in the Nazi state. P. 300 f.
  29. Angelika Ebbinghaus, Klaus Dörner (Ed.): Destroying and healing. The Nuremberg Medical Trial and its Consequences. P. 302.
  30. Quoted from Klee: "Euthanasia" in the Nazi state. P. 303 f.
  31. ^ Carola Sachse, Benoit Massin: Life science research at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute and the crimes of the Nazi regime. Information about the current state of knowledge. P. 32 f. (PDF)
  32. Aly: Action T4. P. 154 f.
  33. Maik Hager: I have never had anything to do with the euthanasia procedure ... ( Memento from February 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Major Leo Alexander, Prof. Dr. Julius Hallervorden and the involvement of the KWI for Brain Research in “euthanasia” crimes under National Socialism
  34. Hans-Walter Schmuhl: Brain research and the murder of the sick. The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research 1937–1945. Berlin 2002, p. 41 ff.
  35. ^ Matthias Dahl: The killing of disabled children in the institution "Am Spiegelgrund" 1940 to 1945. (PDF; 156 kB) In: Eberhard Gabriel, Wolfgang Neugebauer: On the history of Nazi euthanasia in Vienna. Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2000, ISBN 3-205-98951-1 , pp. 75-92.
  36. Angelika Ebbinghaus, Klaus Dörner (Ed.): Destroying and healing. P. 302.
  37. Birgit Koller: The media processing of the victim-perpetrator role in the Second Republic depicted on the basis of the feature film Mein Mörder . 2009, p. 2 ( PDF ). , documented there with: Götz Aly : The clean and the dirty progress . 1985