Developmental Disabilities During the Holocaust

Considered as one of the darkest period in human history, the Holocaust appears in every history book. It was a period where millions of people was persecuted. Until this day, the horrors of the Nazi communism are still widely remembered all over the world. The Nazi government passed much law during their reign of terror, and these laws are the "Law for Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases." This law was instituted on July 14, 1933 and is considered one the Nazi regime's ploy to create a "master race." In order to bring this dream to reality, the Nazi government called for the sterilization of all of people who suffered any form of hereditary disease. Some of the diseases that they consider hereditary are deafness, blindness, epilepsy, learning and physical disabilities as well as physical deformities. Severe alcoholism was also considered hereditary. As soon as the said law passed, the Third Reich further improved their propaganda against disabled people. They called them cruel names and labeled them "useless eaters." The Nazi government also promoted that people with disabilities were burdens to the society and had nothing to contribute to mankind going forward. Children of all ages and adults with disabilities killed. During this same period, doctors and midwives were required by the Interior Ministry to report all cases of newbo s having hereditary diseases. The Nazi Government and Operation T4 The persecution of innocent people still escalated several years later. In the year 1939, Operation T4 was administered by the ruthless Adolf Hitler. The program's name was in reference to the program's headquarters located in Berlin known as Tiergartenstrasse 4. It was a medically managed program of so-called "mercy killing." Adults and Children of all ages with disabilities were mercilessly killed. Also in the same year, doctors and midwives were required by the Interior Ministry to report all cases of newbo s having hereditary diseases. Children under the age of three suffering from any form of disability such as cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus and Down syndrome were all persecuted under Operation T4. The Nazi government came up with a panel of medical experts to carry out and approve euthanization of each child. The Panels role was to prove each euthanized person suffered from a hereditary disease. The standard of proof was not high and not questioned. A lot of parents was unaware of what happened to their children who gone missing. Parents were told by the government they were giving their children special treatment. Many people were experimented on and subjected to unimaginable acts in the name of science. As time went by, the Nazis would tell the parents that their children had passed away of pneumonia and as to stop the spread of the disease were cremated. Death Toll Under Operation T4, 70,000 German and Austrian people with disabilities were euthanized between 1940 and 1941. Most of them were killed using poison gas by the Nazis. It is said that nearly a quarter of a million people were mercilessly killed during this dark era. That is something that the world is trying to forget to date.