Euthanasia in Nazi Germany

Beginning in October 1939, Adolf Hitler secretly approved an experimental program which by intent and in practice sterilized and removed “undesirable” citizens from the German population. These “undesirables” were German, Jewish, or Gypsy patients who were in most cases handicapped or deemed incurable. It is estimated that the Nazi regime was responsible for over 400,000 sterilizations and over 70,000 deaths from euthanasia from 1933-1945. Despite the fact that many of the “undesirables” were part of German families who supported the Nazis, they were viewed as threats to the Aryan race and were targeted for extinction. Historians have long wondered why theories on experimental programs designed to sterilize and remove “undesirables” from the population resurfaced after Hitler took office in 1933. While the decision to implement sterilization and euthanasia to protect the Aryan race was influenced by theories on Eugenics long before when Adolf Hitler came into power in 1933, only when Hitler took office were these theories placed into action. Although, the sterilization and “euthanasia” influences from scientific views prior to the Nazi regime did not resurface until after 1933, they were not directly responsible for the atrocities that occurred. For it took an economic depression, the spread of Nazi propaganda, the intimidation of an environment of persecution, and the outbreak of World War 2 to trigger efforts made by influential sterilization and euthanasia theorists to protect the Aryan race.

Defeat in the First World War and the conditions outlined in the Treaty of Versailles drove Germany into severe economic ruin. During this time cost cutting solutions were explored in all sectors of German society. In 1920 ' 'The Permission to Destroy Life Unworthy of Life” ' was published. This was written by two German professors named Karl Binding and Alfred Hoche who were the prophets of direct medicalized killing and most influential on Adolf Hitler. Hoche and

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