DECISIVE EVENTS

The German Reich modelled its legal regulations on infertility and »Euthanasia« on decisions made abroad. The murder of a child in Leipzig-Dösen following a request for clemency from Adolf Hitler was a turning point for »Paediatric euthanasia«. The murder of thousands of Polish asylum inmates in German-occupied Poland from 1 September 1939 was decisive for the implementation of mass »Euthanasia«.

It is a black-and-white photograph. It has a light border. Carrie Buck and her mother are sitting in the photograph. Carrie is sitting on the left. She has chin-length dark hair. Her mother has her grey hair pinned up. Both women are wearing light-coloured long-sleeved dresses. They are sitting on a park bench and looking seriously into the camera. The mother has her hand on her daughter Carrie's shoulder. Trees, a hedge and a road can be seen in the background.

Carrie and Emma Buck at the Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-Minded before the Buck v. Bell trial in Virginia, November 1924. Photographer Arthur Howard Estabrook.

Archiv University at Albany, State University New York.

By 1933, sterilisation laws existed in 30 US states. In 1927, the US Supreme Court ruled that sterilisation could be carried out even against the will of those affected. The decisive case involved Carrie Buck, an American woman who unsuccessfully fought her sterilisation in court. After that, in principle, anyone could be sterilised against their will.

As early as the beginning of the 1930s, active euthanasia was supported worldwide by doctors as a »release« from a serious, incurable illness. In Denmark and Czechoslovakia, »painless death by sleeping« was already exempt from punishment. In the United States, doctors called for a law that would make »mercy killing« legal. The Nazis took this as an example.

It is a printed page from a magazine. The text is in two columns and in English.

Auszug aus W.W. Gregg: The Right to Kill. North American Review Nr. 237, 1934, S. 242.

It is a black-and-white portrait photograph of Werner Catel. He is wearing a white doctor's coat with a dark tie. His hair is cut short. He is looking at the camera. His expression is serious.

Werner Catel, Leipzig University Hospital, c. 1931.

Copy ArEGL.

The first child to become a victim of »Euthanasia« due to an impairment died on 25 July 1939 at the age of five months. The infant had a physical defect and was visually impaired. The father therefore asked for a »Mercy killing« to be granted. Karl Brandt, Hitler’s doctor, examined the child, who was born in Pomssen on 20 February 1939. He was then murdered at Leipzig University Children’s Hospital under the medical direction of Werner Catel.

In autumn 1939, the »Sonderkommando Lange« carried out the first killings with gas on behalf of the security police in the Poznan concentration camp in Fort VII and in a gas van under the direction of the Berlin Forensic Institute. Around 1,200 patients from the Treskau-Owińsk, Poznan and Tiegenhof institutions were murdered with carbon monoxide. On 12 or 13 December 1939, Heinrich Himmler decided to use this method to murder the sick in the German Reich.

It is a black-and-white group photo. It shows seven men in Wehrmacht uniforms sitting in front of a house façade with peeling plaster, drinking beer. Behind them in the second row, also drinking beer, are three men. Three of them have beer bottles to their mouths when the photo is taken. The men are wearing civilian clothes, shirts with jackets, jumpers and slipovers. The men are young and middle-aged. It shows them after the murder of Jews with gas vans in Kulmhof.

Group photo of the »Sonderkommando Lange«. It murdered thousands of Polish patients, later also Jews and Sinti and Roma in the Kulmhof extermination camp.

Foundation Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

It is one page of a yellowed letter. The letter is written on the letterhead of the Higher SS and Police Leader at the Reich Governor's Office in Posen in Military District 11. The letter is addressed to SS-Gruppenführer Nordost Sporrenberg. The letter is typed in small letters. It bears a stamp with the words »Geheime Reichssache!« (Secret Reich Matter!).

Extract from the letter from the Higher SS and Police Leader to the Reich Governor in Poznan, Jakob Sporrenberg, to the Higher SS and Police Leader North-East, 18 October 1940.

BArch NS 19/2576.

The implementation of the murder of the sick in the Warthegau with the »Central Office« and »Special Registry Office« under Gauleiter Arthur Greiser became the model for »Aktion T4«. In Warthegau, Danzig, East Prussia and Pomerania, the murder of the sick was continued after the trial gassings. In addition to the »Sonderkommando Lange«, the »Sonderkommando Eimann« was also deployed. All those involved received a bounty of ten Reichsmarks. Many were later deployed in extermination camps.

It is a piece of paper with an imperial eagle and a swastika, as well as the words “Adolf Hitler” in the top left-hand corner. It is Adolf Hitler's private stationery. The text consists of only one paragraph and is typed on a typewriter. It is signed by Adolf Hitler in his own handwriting. Under the signature is a handwritten note by Gürtner. It reads: »Given to me by Bouhler on 29 August 1940. Dr Gürtner.«

Letter from Adolf Hitler, October 1939, dated 1 September 1939.

Copy ArEGL.

This authorisation from Adolf Hitler was written in October 1939 and backdated. Adolf Hitler used it to justify the murders of the sick, which had already been taking place in Poland from 1 September 1939. As the »Euthanasia Act« was not passed, Adolf Hitler used this letter to create a pseudo-legal basis for various »Euthanasia« measures during the Second World War.

DECISIVE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

Under National Socialism, new duties were introduced and old rights were abolished. These new laws and orders became the basis for decisions. As a result, crimes became legal. The application of these regulations went hand in hand with the decision as to which life was considered worth living.

The minutes of the meeting are on yellowed paper. It is the first of two pages. The paper is densely covered with typewritten text. A note has been added in pencil stating that this is a complete excerpt from the minutes. The names of the people mentioned are underlined; these are only the Reich Chancellor, his deputy and the Minister of the Interior.

Excerpt from the transcript of agenda item 18 of the meeting on 14 July 1933 concerning the resolution on the »Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases in Offspring«.

BArch R 43-II/720.

The »Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases« was passed on 14 July 1933 and came into force on 1 January 1934. It regulated compulsory sterilisation. Only one person opposed the bill in the decisive session: Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen demanded that sterilisation remain voluntary. Adolf Hitler overruled him and ordered that the law be passed as proposed by Arthur Gütt, Ernst Rüdin and Falk Ruttke.

Women were often pregnant when they were to be sterilised. In 1935, the »Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring« was extended. It now also regulated involuntary abortion from the 6th month of pregnancy. In 1936, »Social imbecility« was also included as a further reason for sterilisation.

It is the first page of a yellowed document containing the draft law. The paper is densely covered in typewritten text.

Excerpt from the draft of the »Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring« of 26 June 1935.

BArch R 43-II/720.

It is a page from a law gazette. The page is yellowed, and the text is in two columns. The 7th regulation is signed by Leonard Conti. The lower half of the page is crossed out.

Ordinance of the »Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases in Offspring« of 14 November 1944.

BArch R 43-II/722.

After the declaration of total war, decisions on sterilisation were only to be made in emergencies. The Reich government hoped that this would save money, as there were now only a few doctors left and the surgery room were needed for the wounded.

It is a black-and-white photocopy. It is a single-column newspaper report with black print on white paper.

Newspaper report: Total war effort; here: Restriction of the implementation of the »Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring« of 6 September 1944.

BArch R 36/1369.

It is a black-and-white photocopy. It is the law, published in a law gazette. The two-column text is in black print on white paper.

Excerpt from the Reichsgesetzblatt No. 133 of 27 November 1933, pages 996 – 999.

Copy ArEGL.

The »Law against dangerous habitual criminals and on measures of security and correction« of 24 November 1933 introduced secure placement in a institution. In §42a (5) and §42k, the »Emasculation of dangerous moral criminals« (castration) was also provided for as a punishment.

Until 1933, there was no authority to register and manage the sick. Under National Socialism, the »Law on the Standardisation of the Healthcare System« created health authorities throughout the Reich for the first time. They are still attached to the district administrations today. Their main tasks at the time were the »Hereditary-biological registration« and counselling in matters of »Hereditary and racial care«. Other tasks were subordinated to this.

It is a page from a law gazette, reproduced in black and white. The text of the law is printed in small type, closely spaced and in two columns.

Extract from the Reichsgesetzblatt »Gesetz über die Vereinheitlichung des Gesundheitswesens« of 3 July 1934.

Copy ArEGL.

It is a wafer-thin sheet of paper printed with typewritten text. The text consists only of a headline and a single paragraph that fills the entire page.

Excerpt from the lecture given on 7 March 1938 to the doctors of the Lüneburg Public Health Office on health conditions in the city and district of Lüneburg.

NLA Hannover Hann. 138 Lüneburg Acc. 101/88 Nr. 275.

As early as March 1938, the head of the Lüneburg health department announced that 80 per cent of the sick and their families had been registered. By then, he had also rejected around eight per cent of all marriage applicants on the grounds of hereditary health. This figure, the director boasted, was far above the national average.

This stipulated that only people who had not been declared to have a hereditary disease had the right to marry. The decisive factor was whether the marriage was expected to produce »Healthy« offspring. If one was considered »hereditarily sick«, marriage was not permitted. Even sterilisation did not lead to a subsequent marriage licence.

It is a page from the »Law for the Protection of the Hereditary Health of the German People«. The paper is slightly yellowed. The text is densely printed. The law contains handwritten underlinings in blue pencil. These passages are thus highlighted.

Excerpt from the »Law for the Protection of the Hereditary Health of the German People« of 18 October 1935.

BArch R 43-II/722.

It is a white sheet of paper densely covered in typewritten text. It is a photocopy. It contains comments on the law. The commentators and their key statements are underlined. There are also word corrections and handwritten comments.

Excerpt from a transcript on the »Assisted Dying Act«, circa 1939.

BArch R 96-I/2.

An »Euthanasia law« drafted before the outbreak of the Second World War, but never passed, was intended to make the murder of the sick and people with disabilities unpunishable. In order to be able to murder as many people as possible with the help of a »painless euthanasia«, even against the wishes of their relatives, the draft law provided for mandatory reporting and an ordered placement in a designated sanatorium and nursing home.

The transcript of the decree on the obligation to register is typed on browned paper. The page is densely written and yellowed. There is no margin; the text extends to the edge of the page.

Excerpt from the »Decree of the Reich Minister of the Interior concerning the obligation to report malformed children« of 18 August 1939.

NLA Hannover Nds. 721 Lüneburg Acc. 8/98 No. 3.

Before the outbreak of war, the plan was to also kill children with disabilities. To realise this, compulsory registration was initially only introduced for children under the age of three. In 1941, the obligation was extended to adolescents up to the age of 16. The registration of children was decisive in determining whether they were forcibly placed in a newly created »Specialised children’s ward«, where they were at risk of being murdered.

Although there was no »Euthanasia Act«, the obligation to register children was extended to adults. In the territory of the German Reich, institutions were asked to report their patients. Reporting and registration formed the basis for persecution and murder.

It is a paper form with black writing on white paper. The form is not filled out. In addition to personal data, it asks whether the person was a war participant, whether the person receives regular visitors, how long the person has been in an institution, with what diagnosis or on what grounds, whether the person has a job and, if so, what kind. The writing is in Old German. At the bottom is a rectangle outlined with a thick line, in which only the assessors are allowed to make entries. The question of whether someone was a participant in the First or Second World War was added later by stamp.

Uncompleted registration form for adult with a disease.

BArch R 96-I/2.

The notification was made using a form. Among other things, the person was asked how long they had been in the institution and whether they had received any visitors. This information was essential for the assessment and decision as to whether someone was selected to be murdered.

EIt is a typewritten letter on yellowed paper. In it, the district president in Minden is asked to transfer Jewish patients to Wunstorf. The important statements are underlined. There is no original signature. A 7 and a 6 are noted in red pencil, the meaning of which is unknown.

Decree on the transfer of mentally ill Jews, 30 August 1940 (copy).

Main archive Bethel. HAB BeKa1, 38.

For the killing of Jewish patients, reports had to be made to the »Zentraldienststelle« at Tiergartenstraße 4 (Berlin) in the spring of 1940. The Reich Minister of the Interior, Wilhelm Frick, ordered that so-called »Sammelstellen« for Jewish patients be set up throughout the Reich. The sanatorium and nursing home in Wunstorf had to set up such a »Sammelstellen« for the regions of Hanover and Westphalia.

Herbert Linden from the Reich Ministry of the Interior called on all sanatoriums and nursing homes in the province of Hanover to report their respective patients who were eligible for murder by 1 August 1940. This also included the patients in the Lüneburg sanatorium and nursing home.

It is a typewritten letter on yellowed paper. It calls on the district president in Osnabrück to report sick people. It is not an original, but a copy, as indicated by a stamp with a signature.

Letter from the Reich Minister of the Interior, Herbert Linden, to the District President of Osnabrück dated 14 June 1940.

NLA OSnabrück Rep. 430 Dez. 303 Akz. 19/56 No. 237.

»There are too many rather than too few sick people to report.«

A sentence from the letter from the Reich Ministry of the Interior dated 26 July 1940.

NLA Hanover Hann. 155 Göttingen Acc. 58/83 No. 10.

It is the last page of a medical chart. The sheet is DIN A3, folded in the centre. It is the inside right-hand page. It asks for the aetiology and the diagnosis. There are four different handwritings in ink and pencil for the aetiology. For example, Theodor Jenckel's sister is also said to be ill. The expert's original diagnosis is noted as "moderate mental deficiency". In Rudolf Redepenning's handwriting, the institutional diagnosis "schizophrenia" is noted in blue ink.

Excerpt from Theodor Jenckel’s medical record. His »Mental weakness of medium degree« became »Schizophrenia« in the course of the report.

NLA Hannover Hann. 155 Lüneburg Acc. 2004/066 Nr. 07981.

As the reports had to comply with the requirements of the Reich Ministry of the Interior, the doctor Rudolf Redepenning falsified the medical records. He changed the initial diagnosis or added the entry »Schizophrenia«. In this way, the Lüneburg institution managed to report the required 480 patients.

Der Erlass ist gelocht und an den Ecken etwas geknickt. Das Papier ist vergilbt. Es ist eng mit der Schreibmaschine beschrieben. Der Erlass ist maschinell unterschrieben mit »Dr. Linden«. Unter dem Erlass ist ein Vermerk. Darunter sind zwei Stempel. Der erste stammt vom Oberpräsidenten der Provinz Hannover, der zweite von der Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Lüneburg. Darunter befindet sich die handschriftliche Unterschrift von Max Bräuner.

Decree of the Reich Minister of the Interior dated 6 May 1944 (copy).

NLA Hannover Hann. 155 Lüneburg Acc. 56/83 No. 8/2.

This decree stipulated that mentally unfit forced labourers were to be »transferred« to institutions located outside the Reich territory. Those affected were to be organised into special transports for this purpose. To facilitate this, the establishment of »Sammelstellen« was planned. The decree was therefore a decisive prerequisite for the establishment of so-called »Ausländersammelstellen«.

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