Involuntary Euthanasia

This chapter provides a short summary of the Nazi ‘euthanasia program’. It was initiated by HitlerHitler in 1939 to coincide with the start of WWII. ‘Aktion T4’, the first wave of the killing, focussed on disabled children who were considered unworthy of life. Even though the Nazis tried to keep it secret, protests soon emerged and the program was thus officially stopped in 1941. However, the killing continued during a second, decentralized wave, also often referred to as ‘Aktion Brandt’. The third wave, code-named ‘Aktion 14f13’, started in 1941 and focussed on prisoners of the concentration camps. In total, between 200 000 and 300 000 people were murdered. The German medical profession was centrally involved in all these atrocities.