The Radicalisation of the State Flashcards
(59 cards)
What are the 3 distinct phases in the development of the Nazi regime ?
- phase one: The legal revolution (1933-34)
- phase two: the new Germany (1934-37)
- phase three: the radicalisation of the state (1938-39)
What are the Volksgenossen ?
national comrades
What are groups excluded from the Volksgemeinschaft ?
- political enemies
- asocials
- racial enemies - those of a different race or those with a hereditary defect
When it came to sterilisation policy what did the gov do before Nazi’s came into power ?
the state government of Prussia had already drawn up a draft law to allow the voluntary sterilisation of those with hereditary defects
What did the Nazi’s introduce in July 1933 ?
the Law for Prevention of Hereditary Diseased Progeny ( Sterilisation Law )
What did the Sterilisation Law 1933 specify as ‘hereditary diseases’ :
- congenital feeble-mindedness
- schizophrenia
- manic-depressive
- epilepsy
- chronic alcoholism
- hereditary blindness
- deafness
- hereditary physical malformation
What age was sterilisation permitted over ?
10
At what age could you use force to carry out sterilisation ?
after 14
How was the Sterilisation Law amended in 1935 ?
it permitted abortion for those who were deemed suitable for sterilisation
Where were decisions about sterilisation made ?
Hereditary Health Courts (bias)
How many people were sterilised during the Third Reich ?
400,000
When did the regime authorise euthanasia for the mentally ill and physically disabled ?
by Oct 1939
What did the Nazi regime view the mentally ill and physically disabled as ?
a threat to ‘racial hygiene’ and the ‘biological strength of the Volk’
put to death to ‘relieve the burden on the national community’
Where did the first euthanasia programme for disabled children originate from ?
a child’s father wrote a letter to Hitler asking for his child ‘this creature’ to be put to sleep
Bouhler made sure it was brought to Hitlers attention and H sent a senior SS doctor Brandt to examine the baby - his report advised euthanasia H approved assured he would protect the doctors carrying out ‘mercy killings’
Who dealt with euthanasia cases ?
Philip Bouhler
T4 programme :
children sent to hospitals to starve to death or be given lethal injections - parents told got best treatment
How many children died in T4 programme ?
more than 5000
What was the basis of the T4 programme ?
paperwork - forms about patients which would be passed onto assessors - who were paid on a piecework basis so encourage them to process as many as possible
made judgements without having to look them in the eye
Was there complaints about the T4 programme from doctors and nurses ?
yes but they were ignored
When did rumours of euthanasia start to spread ?
1941
Public complaints regarding T4 ?
one official filed a complaint accusing Bouhler of murder - proceedings got nowhere but worried the regime
Protestant protest over T4 programme :
- Pastor Braune on July 1940 protested and was arrested by the Gestapo
Catholic protest over T4 programme:
- statement from Rome Dec 1940 pronouncing direct killing of people with mental or physical defects was against ‘the natural and positive law of God’
- Aug 1941 Archbishop Galen of Münster preached a sermon attacking euthanasia - thousands of copies were printed and distributed
When did Hitler halt the T4 programme ?
Aug 1941
this was an isolated success for public protest against the regime
