They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But ever since I began blogging about the Holocaust, I have encountered images that have left me speechless—none more so than those depicting the suffering of children.
On August 18, 1939, Wilhelm Frick ordered all physicians, nurses, and midwives to report children under the age of three who exhibited severe mental or physical disabilities. It marked the first phase of Nazi Germany’s child euthanasia program, known as the T4 program.
One of the physicians complicit in the T4 program was Dr. Hans Asperger (pictured above).
A key document, a circular from the Reich Minister of the Interior (Ref: IVb 3088/39 – 1079 Mi), was marked “Strictly Confidential” and outlined the groups targeted and the process of their selection. Physicians, midwives, and staff at maternity hospitals, obstetric departments, and children’s hospitals—unless exempted due to a senior doctor’s refusal—were required to report in writing any newborns suspected of having the following congenital disorders:
• Idiocy and mongolism (especially cases combined with blindness and deafness)
• Microcephaly
• Severe or advanced hydrocephalus
• Malformations of any kind, particularly missing limbs or severe midline defects of the head and spine
• Paralysis, including cerebral palsy
• A standardized reporting form accompanied the circular and had to be submitted to public health authorities, who would then forward it to higher administrative offices.
Disturbingly, midwives and nurses were offered a financial incentive—2 Reichsmarks per report—under the guise of “professional services rendered.”
Initially, only children under the age of three were reported. The registration process falsely suggested that it was intended to ensure special medical care. In reality, it served as a mechanism to decide whether a child would live or be euthanized. The chilling term used for this decision was “eligibility for euthanasia,” as if it were a humane act.
Three medical experts—Werner Catel, Hans Heinze, and Ernst Wentzler—were appointed as assessors from the National Committee. According to Viktor Brack’s associate Hans Hefelmann, Heinze and Wentzler enthusiastically supported euthanasia, while Catel endorsed it with conviction. These men needed no coercion to take on their horrific roles.
However, it wasn’t just physicians who carried out the killings. Some nurses also murdered children, claiming they were simply following orders.
Below is an image of Richard Jenne, the last known child murdered under the T4 program.
Sources
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-truth-about-hans-aspergers-nazi-collusion/
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/euthanasia-program
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/258/
https://www.britannica.com/science/eugenics-genetics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aktion_T4
https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/unworthy-live
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/euthanasia-program
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