The Dire Situation of the Disabled

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Introductory
In the late 30’s and early 40’s, something drastic was happening in Nazi Germany and German annexed areas. People were killed in Germany and German annexed territories (Friedlander). In the summer of 1939, Nazi officials began to exterminate disabled children and the handicapped (Friedlander). This killings began as a cleansing plan from Hitler and his high ranking SS officers. The experimentation and lack of public reaction to the T-4 program paved the road to the mass killings / genocide known as the Holocaust beginning with the handicapped.
Background
The T4 Program was a way that Hitler wanted to clean his race. Euthanasia literally means “good death” and it was the first attempt to clean the population (Friedlander). Hitler wanted racial purity and a strong national health which led to the killings (American Israeli Cooperative Enterprise). The T4 Program ended up killing about over a quarter million disabled people through its years (Hitler’s Rehearsal). Around 5,000 children perished from the world in the war years of 1939-45 (Friedlander). The T4 program also was a beginning phase of the Holocaust because Hitler and his Nazi party wanted to rid the country and German annexed areas of mentally and physically handicapped.
The Beginning of the End
Some of the cruel things done in the Holocaust were first shown to the world through the T4 Program because the lack of attention of the public. Children were killed by overdose and starvation (Friedlander). Some killings began in remote areas as well. The killing began in institutional areas in the autumn of 1939 (Leroy). “Between December 1939 and August 1941, about 50,000 to 60,000 Germans—children and adults—were secretly killed by lethal injectio...

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...ng and lack of defence against the able bodied and minded.
The topic of the T4’s carnage impacts us today by showing us that we need to hold our ground when someone is picking on someone with special needs. Both T4 Program and the Holocaust teaches us that whenever anyone needs help from an opposition, we need to be there to help them fend for themselves. The Holocaust must never be forgotten because it shows us how a simple man can be persuaded by a literate speaker like Hitler; as well as the fact that one must not be persecuted by their peers because one event may lead to another and your impact on their belief could be affected; also for the memory of the victims the Holocaust and T4 Program took. The experimentation and lack of public reaction to the T-4 program paved the road to the mass killings/genocide known as the Holocaust beginning with the handicapped.

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