The Deaf Holocaust Deaf People in Nazi Germany Week 3: Day 3

The Aryan race: Eradicating The Inferior When the Nazi party came to power in Germany in 1933, they promised stability, prosperity and national renewal after its defeat in the First World War. Hitler was obsessed with racial purity - with the idea that nature had created a superior Aryan race, an elite with the quickest minds and most able bodies.

Therefore, by the laws of nature, anyone judged ‘inferior’ or 'weak' should be eradicated to protect the 'purity' of the gene pool. Into this category came Jews, gypsies, black people, gay people - plus deaf and disabled people. The Aryan race: Eradicating The Inferior Cont.

Sterilization In July 1933, the Nazi regime introduced a controversial new law to prevent the 'unfit' from having children. They enforced the sterilization of certain defined groups including: blind, manically depressed, physically malformed, promiscuous women and deaf people.

Those thought to have hereditary deafness had to attend a medical examination to decide whether they should be sterilized. Though there was an appeals procedure, the vast majority were turned down. Sterilization

Education It’s estimated that some 17,000 deaf people were sterilized between 1933 and the youngest was only 9 years old. Given that there was no national register of deaf or disabled people in Germany, many were given over to the authorities by teachers of the deaf - the very people trusted with their care and support. Some Nazi educationalists even began to question the right of deaf children to be educated at all, believing the education of the 'inferior' to be wasteful.

Abortions From sterilization, it was just a short step to preventing the birth of deaf and disabled children. In 1935, doctors were given the legal right to terminate pregnancies by force if an inherited genetic condition, such as deafness, was suspected. Abortions were carried out as late as six months into the pregnancy.

Deaths of 'Useless Eaters' In 1939, the Nazi policy towards deaf and disabled people took an even more sinister and horrific turn. Hitler decided that Germany should be rid of 'useless eaters' and that deaf and disabled children should be killed. Newborn babies with physical 'defects' were removed from their mothers and killed.

Deaths of 'Useless Eaters‘ Cont. Children who were judged to have mental or physical disabilities were taken to special children's wards and killed by lethal injection or starvation. The parents were often informed that their children had died of natural causes. It is estimated that nearly 2000 deaf children were killed in this way.

The T4 Program Also in 1939, Hitler agreed to the creation of the T4 Program, which targeted disabled and deaf adults living in institutional care homes. A questionnaire was filled out for each resident to indicate who should be removed to the hospital killing centers in Germany and Austria. The residents were never examined by a qualified doctor – the questionnaire was, in effect, the person's death warrant.

The Killing Centers People were transported to killing centers such as Hadamar, which features in this program. They were told to undress, given a superficial medical examination and taken to the 'shower' room. Sixty people at a time were packed in. Once the doors were closed, deadly carbon monoxide gas was pumped into the room.

The Killing Centers Cont. When everyone was dead their bodies were placed on dissection tables, where gold teeth would be removed and organs taken for medical research. The corpses were burnt in a crematorium. From the outside Hadamar, with its tall chimney billowing smoke, looked like a factory. But the truth was that it had become a killing factory.

Public Outcry Even in wartime, the disappearance of so many people could not go unnoticed. Unrest among the German public grew, along with the outcry from church leaders. This led to the closure of the six killing centers. The crematorium equipment was dismantled and shipped eastwards, where staff continued to work in Polish death camps.

Public Outcry Cont. The killing of disabled people was to be a grim rehearsal for the murder of millions of Jews throughout the war. The official closure of the killing centers did not mean that disabled people were safe. The murders continued in general hospitals until the end of the war – with doctors making the selections.