T-4 Program
The T4 program, or "Aktion T4," was the attempt by Hitler's chancellery to eliminate through euthanasia racial and genetic impurities in the population of Germany and the territories Germany had taken control of, such as Austria. The operation, headed by Hitler's personal physician, started out aimed at killing children from newborns to age three, especially those that had physical disabilities or displayed signs of mental disorders. On August 18, 1939, the Reich Ministry of the Interior sent out a decree that encouraged physicians, nurses, and midwives to report children under the age of three that had limitations, whether physical or mental. Soon after, public health officials began encouraging parents to send their children to specialized pediatric clinics. These clinics were, in fact, killing centers for the disabled children, and operated mainly by lethal injection or starvation. Eventually, Hitler extended the program to juveniles up to age 17, and then finally to include adults. Named for the street address of its headquarters, the T4 program developed from the euthanasia program for children. Specially formulated questionnaires were circulated and evaluated by a team of doctors. Although appearing as a way of gathering statistics, patients' ability to work was noted along with the disorders they had. Soon after, these patients were taken by bus or rail to gassing installations. The bodies were then burned, and the ashes were sent in urns to the victims family, along with a death certificate with a falsified cause of death. However, the T4 program was not a well kept secret and eventually Hitler ordered an end to it. While the T4 program itself was ended, the action of it was not. The killing rate was slowed down, and again done through injections and starvations. It is estimated that the euthanasia program claimed the lives 200,000 people. A large number of patients were murdered by the SS in their beds. The driving ideas behind the program was a cleansing of the population, and, during wartime, that the facilities housing handicapped patients should serve as barracks or hospitals for those injured during fighting. The program is considered by some to be a sort of rehearsal for the later genocide, and many of the personnel involved in T4 were placed in charge of the mass murder of the Jews.
Side note: Some of the inspiration for the T-4 program came from the early 20th century laws in the United States allowing forced sterilization of the mentally handicapped.
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Side note: Some of the inspiration for the T-4 program came from the early 20th century laws in the United States allowing forced sterilization of the mentally handicapped.
For more info click here!