Role of German mothers protecting ill children from arrest by the Gestapo and euthanization
- Cantankerous
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Role of German mothers protecting ill children from arrest by the Gestapo and euthanization
I was watching the wartime Disney propaganda cartoon Education for Death and there is a scene where the little German boy Hans gets stricken with illness, his mom praying for him to get well, and a Gestapo officer knocking on the door to Hans' bedroom to warn Hans' mom that Hans will be sent to a concentration camp to be euthanized unless he recovers from his illness. Are there any records of German mothers who did their best to protect "Aryan" children stricken with illnesses from being taken away by the Nazi regime and sent to concentration camps to be euthanized?
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Re: Role of German mothers protecting ill children from arrest by the Gestapo and euthanization
The Nazis made a pro euthaniza film; and I remember that not so long ago the remains of German cildren with mental/physical problems killed in the T4 program where found stored at a german medical building....but as to yout question did german mothers protect their children from being euthanized? None as far as I know....
Re: Role of German mothers protecting ill children from arrest by the Gestapo and euthanization
The T4 program involved the killing of institutionalized adults and children (including orphans) either in their home institutions or in gassing facilities.
"Beginning in October 1939, public health authorities began to encourage parents of children with disabilities to admit their young children to one of a number of specially designated pediatric clinics throughout Germany and Austria. In reality, the clinics were children's killing wards. There, specially recruited medical staff murdered their young charges by lethal overdoses of medication or by starvation."
"Because the program was secret, T-4 planners and functionaries took elaborate measures to conceal its deadly designs. Even though physicians and institutional administrators falsified official records in every case to indicate that the victims died of natural causes, the euthanasia program quickly become an open secret. There was widespread public knowledge of the measure. Private and public protests concerning the killings took place, especially from members of the German clergy."
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/ ... ia-program
"Beginning in October 1939, public health authorities began to encourage parents of children with disabilities to admit their young children to one of a number of specially designated pediatric clinics throughout Germany and Austria. In reality, the clinics were children's killing wards. There, specially recruited medical staff murdered their young charges by lethal overdoses of medication or by starvation."
"Because the program was secret, T-4 planners and functionaries took elaborate measures to conceal its deadly designs. Even though physicians and institutional administrators falsified official records in every case to indicate that the victims died of natural causes, the euthanasia program quickly become an open secret. There was widespread public knowledge of the measure. Private and public protests concerning the killings took place, especially from members of the German clergy."
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/ ... ia-program
Re: Role of German mothers protecting ill children from arrest by the Gestapo and euthanization
Gestapo had nothing to do with it. Authorized doctors in Berlin selected victims according to questionnaires received from asylums from which they were later deported.
Hans was quite safe because the "Law on Euthanasia for the Incurably Ill" stated that only the life of a patient:
Mothers could protect their mentally ill children by simply taking them home, but most of them probably couldn't afford it.
The directive was:
Hans was quite safe because the "Law on Euthanasia for the Incurably Ill" stated that only the life of a patient:
Additionally, because he was in the care of his family (so he wasn't a burden on the state), he was excluded from the Aktion.requiring lifelong care as a result of incurable mental illness can be ended by medical means imperceptible to him.
Mothers could protect their mentally ill children by simply taking them home, but most of them probably couldn't afford it.
The directive was:
A common trick was taking patients home and bringing them back after the deportation.Patients on the ... deportation list [may be] released before deportation at the request of relatives ...
the applications for release must be complied with in every case.