Media Essay
Euthanasia Program (Abridged Article) - Photograph
Hartheim castle euthanasia killing center
Hartheim castle, a euthanasia killing center where people with physical and mental disabilities were killed by gassing and lethal injection. Hartheim, Austria, date uncertain.
Item ViewNazi physician Karl Brandt
Nazi physician Karl Brandt, director of the Euthanasia Program. August 27, 1942.
Item ViewFriedrich Mennecke, a Euthanasia Program physician
Friedrich Mennecke, a Euthanasia Program physician who was responsible for sending many patients to be gassed. He was sentenced to death in 1946. Germany, date uncertain.
Item ViewPersonnel of T4
Personnel of T4, the agency created to administer the Nazi Euthanasia Program. Pictured from left to right are: Erich Bauer (chauffeur), Dr. Rudolf Lonauer, Dr. Victor Ratka, Dr. Friedrich Mennecke, Dr. Paul Nitsche,and Dr. Gerhard Wischer. Berlin, Germany, 1939–45.
Item ViewHead nurse of the children's ward at Kaufbeuren
Head nurse of the children's ward at the Kaufbeuren-Irsee euthanasia facility. Kaufbeuren, Germany, 1945.
Item ViewKaufbeuren euthanasia facility
Kaufbeuren euthanasia facility. Killings by lethal injection took place in Kaufbeuren. Germany, 1945.
Item ViewNazi propaganda slide promoting euthanasia
Slide to indoctrinate youth taken from a Nazi propaganda filmstrip. Promoting "euthanasia," it was prepared for the Hitler Youth. The caption says: "Mentally ill Negro (English) 16 years in an institution costing 35,000 RM [Reichsmarks]." Place and date uncertain.
Item ViewBuses used to transport patients from the Eichberg hospital near Wiesbaden to Hadamar
Buses used to transport patients from the Eichberg hospital near Wiesbaden to Hadamar euthanasia center. The windows were painted to prevent people from seeing those inside. Germany, between May and September 1941.
Item ViewAdolf Hitler's authorization for the Euthanasia Program
Adolf Hitler's authorization for the Euthanasia Program (Operation T4), signed in October 1939 but dated September 1, 1939.
Item ViewEmmi G., a victim of the Euthanasia Program
Emmi G., a 16-year-old housemaid diagnosed as schizophrenic. She was sterilized and sent to the Meseritz-Obrawalde euthanasia center where she was killed with an overdose of tranquilizers on December 7, 1942. Place and date uncertain.
Item ViewA victim of the Nazi Euthanasia Program
A victim of the Nazi Euthanasia Program. Hospitalized in a psychiatric ward for her nonconformist beliefs and writings, she was murdered on January 26, 1944. Germany, date uncertain.
Item ViewPropaganda for the Nazi Euthanasia Program
Photograph with the caption: "...because God cannot want the sick and ailing to reproduce." This image originates from a film, produced by the Reich Propaganda Ministry, that aimed through propaganda to develop public sympathy for the Nazi Euthanasia Program.
Item ViewPropaganda slide for the Nazi Euthanasia Program
This image originates from a film produced by the Reich Propaganda Ministry. It shows patients in an unidentified asylum. Their existence is described as "life without hope." The Nazis sought, through propaganda, to develop public sympathy for the Euthanasia Program.
Item ViewScene from a film produced by the Reich Propaganda Ministry.
This photo originates from a film produced by the Reich Propaganda Ministry. It shows two doctors in a ward in an unidentified asylum. The existence of the patients in the ward is described as "life only as a burden." Such propaganda images were intended to develop public sympathy for the Euthanasia Program.
Item View