The Nazi Euthanasia Programme Based on Racial Purity Theories
While the actual program of 'euthanasia' was initiated by Hitler in
1939 the whole idea of racial purity, Social Darwinism and eugenics
had been on the rise In Europe and more importantly Germany for quite
some years. The issue that called for the commencement of the program
was in fact written at the end of October but was predated 1st of
September to coincide with the start of the war, as it was
interestingly enough seen as a paralleled war by the Nazis.
The idea that Hitler and the Nazis were striving for of a perfect
'Aryan race' throughout their rule is a strongly supported one,
illustrated in Mein Kampf, the euthanasia programme was the next
logical step in the purification process before the extermination of
the Jews which both rid Germany of the socially and genetically
inferior. However there are undoubtedly other factors that played a
useful part in the decision making process of the initiation of the
euthanasia programme, such as economics i.e. how important the
financial gain was to the state and the German people. In the 1920's
particularly, books were published such as the 'Permission for the
destruction of worthless life' written by Karl Binding and Alfred
Hoche that emphasised the financial gain that would come (especially
important during war time) from the extermination of the so called
'inferior' especially those that were institutionalised.
The origins of the mentality behind these exterminations of the weak
are important to look at in regard to why the euthanasia programme
ever started up.
Charles Darwin's 'The origin of species' in 1859 was o...
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The War Against the Jews-Lucy S.Dawidowicz (St. Ives 1975)
Nazism 1919-1945 Vol.3 - J. Noakes and J. Pridlam (Exeter 1988)
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From 'Mercy Death to Genocide' by Julian Reed-Purvis
The Nazi Doctors-Robert Jay Lifton (USA 2000)
www.chgs.umn.edu/Histories
www.members.aol.com/Pantheism/haekrace.com
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1 Article, History Review, March 2003, Julian Reed-Purvis
2 Nazism 1919-1945 vol.3, Pridlam and Noakes, Page 403.
3 Nazism 1919-1945 vol.3, Pridlam and Noakes, Page 394.
4 Extract from Hoche and Binding book, 'Permission for the destruction
of worthless life' from Pridlam and Noakes, Nazism 1919-194 vol.3,
Page 392.
Within weeks, his policy of Blitzkrieg (lightning war) – attacking quickly and strongly- had enabled him to sweep across Poland. Under cover of war, the Nazis dared to carry out acts they could never have attempted in peacetime. On the day the war started, Hitler gave an order for the systematic extermination of the mentally disabled. Many of the people who took part in this ‘euthanasia’ programme for the gassing of the mentally ill would later transfer to the programme to exterminate all Jews.
The intentional murder of an enormous group of people is near unthinkable in today’s society. In the first half of the twentieth century, however, numerous authoritarian regimes committed genocide to undesirables or others considered to be a threat. Two distinct and memorably horrific genocides were the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany and the Holodomor by the Soviet Union. In the Holocaust, The Nazis attempted to eradicate all European Jews after Adolf Hitler blamed them for Germany’s hardship in recent years. During the Holodomor, Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union attempted to destroy any sense of Ukrainian nationalism by intentionally starving and murdering Ukrainian people. The two atrocities can be thoroughly compared and contrasted through the eight stages of genocide. The Holocaust and Holodomor shared many minor and distinct similarities under each stage of genocide, but were mainly similar to the methods of organization, preparation, and extermination, and mainly differed
The organization of the argument of this paper is not particularly imaginative since this writer “lists” elements in a strictly sequential order, but he or she demonstrates familiarity with a wide range of documents and concepts of the Reader while working closely with the specific language of the document he or she is presenting.
capable of killing tens of thousands of Jews in a few days and the gas
...he human depravity one can imagine. Even though Genocide did not begin with the Holocaust, Germany and Adolf Hitlers’ heartless desire for “Aryanization” came at the high cost of human violence, suffering and humiliation towards the Jewish race. These warning signs during the Holocaust, such as Anti-Semitism, Hitler Youth, Racial profiling, the Ghettos, Lodz, Crystal Night, Pogroms, and Deportation unraveled too late for the world to figure out what was going on and help prevent the horrors that came to pass. The lessons learned from all of this provide a better understanding of all the scars genocide leaves behind past and present. In spite the ongoing research in all of these areas today, we continue to learn new details and accounts. By exploring the various warning signs that pointed toward genocide, valuable knowledge was gained on how not to let it happen again.
History aims to examine the actions and legacy of mankind. The past is filled with the achievements that humans have reached, however, history also shows us the evil that man is capable of. No atrocity against mankind is more heinous than the act of genocide. Genocide is the aim to destroy all (or part of) of a racial, religious, ethnic, or national group of people. This paper will examine two famous cases of genocide in history: The holocaust of Jews and other groups in Nazi Germany, and the destruction of the Congolese people under Belgian colonialism. The Holocaust remains as one of the main legacies of Hitler and the Nazi party, who claimed an estimated 11 million victims, 6 million of which were Jews. Comparatively, the Congolese Genocide
n January of 1933 the Nazi regime took control of Germany with the belief that Germans were “racially superior.” Throughout this time period called the Holocaust, which is a Greek word meaning “sacrifice by fire,” the Jewish people were deemed inferior, and were the main threat to the German racial community. Though the Holocaust was a systematic and bureaucratic war, racism is what fueled the persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime. Racism is defined as “a belief or doctrine that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.” This framework of racism was what Hitler believed would “carve out a vast European empire.” (Perry,
“When a patient says, ‘Help me doctor,’ he is assuming that his doctor is on the side of his life.” This quote by Dr.Margaret Cottle , who is a palliative care physician , shows the mentality that most patients have when it comes to patient care. Euthanasia is a very controversial topic that has been debated on throughout the years. Whether it may be active euthanasia, passive euthanasia, voluntary euthanasia, involuntary euthanasia, indirect or physician assisted the morals and reasoning behind each are controversial. Though some people may believe euthanasia may be justified in a critical situation and critical punishment, euthanasia should be prohibited because euthanasia weakens societies respects for the sanctity of life, euthanasia might not be in the person’s best interest, and euthanasia affects other peoples rights, not just the patients.
The Nazi’s perpetrated many horrors during the Holocaust. They enacted many cruel laws. They brainwashed millions into foolishly following them and believing their every word using deceitful propaganda tactics. They forced many to suffer doing embarrassing jobs and to live in crowded ghettos. They created mobile killing squads to exterminate their enemies. Finally, as part of “The Final Solution to the Jewish Question”, they made concentration and killing camps. Another thing the Nazi’s did was to use eugenics as another mean to micromanage the population. What is eugenics, you might ask? It’s the field of scientific study or the belief in genetically improving qualities, attributes and traits in the human race and/or improving the species as a whole—usually done by controlled/selective breeding. Those with positive, desirable, and superior traits are encouraged to reproduce and may be given monetary incentives by the government to have large families. Those with negative, undesirable, or inferior traits may be discouraged from having offspring. They may be sterilized, or undergo dangerous medical procedures or operations with high mortality rates. I chose this topic because it appealed to me and seemed interesting. In the following paragraphs, the tactics, methods, and propaganda the Nazi’s used will be exposed.
The eugenics movement originally started in the late 1870s because of the idea that inferior classes, criminals, poverty, feeble-minds, and disease were hereditary and reproducing would create an unfit population in the United States. Forced sterilizations and the introduction of birth control began with the demand to wipe out populations that were constructed as inferior. The early history of the birth control pill was a form of eugenics, and was not only oppressive towards women of color but to women across the United Sates.
In the essay “The Morality of Euthanasia”, James Rachels uses what he calls the argument from mercy. Rachels states, “If one could end the suffering of another being—the kind from which we ourselves would recoil, about which we would refuse to read or imagine—wouldn’t one?” He cites a Stewart Alsop’s story in which he shares a room with a terminally ill cancer patient who he named Jack. At the end of the recounting, Alsop basically asks, “were this another animal, would not we see to it that it doesn’t suffer more than it should?” Which opens up the question of, “Why do humans receive special treatment when we too are animals?” We would not let animals suffer when there is a low chance of survival, so why is it different for us humans?
“Holocaust, 1933-1945, The” World Without Genocide. William Mitchell College of Law, 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .
The Treatment of Jews Under Nazi Power Whilst in prison, Adolf Hitler wrote ‘Mein Kampf’ in which he declared
The treatment of Jews and other minority groups by the Nazi’s can be described as actions that could only be done by a totalitarian state. Hitler believed in eugenics, the idea of improving a race by selective breeding. Nazi ideology of the Jewish race was severe anti-Semitism and pure hatred. The Nazi policy towards the Jews has been said to be the most brutal and horrific example of anti-Semitism in history.
The ethical debate regarding euthanasia dates back to ancient Greece and Rome. It was the Hippocratic School (c. 400B.C.) that eliminated the practice of euthanasia and assisted suicide from medical practice. Euthanasia in itself raises many ethical dilemmas – such as, is it ethical for a doctor to assist a terminally ill patient in ending his life? Under what circumstances, if any, is euthanasia considered ethically appropriate for a doctor? More so, euthanasia raises the argument of the different ideas that people have about the value of the human experience.