How many mentally ill patients and disabled children were killed at hospital? What was the rationale for the killings?
The correct answer and explanation is :
The systematic killing of mentally ill patients and disabled children was a key aspect of Action T4, a euthanasia program carried out by Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1945. It is estimated that approximately 200,000–300,000 individuals with mental illnesses and disabilities were murdered under this program.
Rationale for the Killings
The Nazi regime justified these killings under the guise of racial hygiene, economic burden, and eugenics. The ideology behind these actions stemmed from:
- Eugenics and “Racial Purity”: The Nazis believed in a “master race” and saw individuals with mental and physical disabilities as a threat to the genetic purity of the Aryan race.
- Economic Arguments: The regime framed these individuals as a financial burden on the state and an obstacle to wartime resource allocation.
- Social Darwinism: They believed in the survival of the fittest and considered the ill and disabled as “life unworthy of life” (Lebensunwertes Leben).
- Propaganda and Public Deception: The Nazis convinced the public that these killings were “mercy deaths” (Gnadentod), relieving patients of their suffering.
Methods of Execution
- Many patients were murdered in gas chambers disguised as shower rooms at institutions such as Hadamar, Hartheim, and Brandenburg.
- Others were starved, given lethal injections, or neglected to the point of death.
- Hospitals and asylums were key locations where these killings took place under medical supervision.
This program laid the groundwork for later Holocaust extermination techniques, including gas chambers. It is a stark reminder of the dangers of pseudoscience and unchecked state power.