Mitchell 1

Chandler Mitchell
Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRT-1103
21 March 22, 2016
Euthanasia Inquiry: What I Learned and Where It Led Me
For my inquiry project I chose to look into the euthanasia program, its original
intended uses, and the question of what led people to actively participate in and
support the euthanasia program. For my research on the euthanasia program I
focused mainly on the origins, the testing on and euthanizing of the handicapped
along with the connections of why people supported the program and why so few
knew what was actually going on. I also put all of this information together and tried
to get some insight into the viewpoint of those in that time period and set of
circumstances through my own interpretation. While looking through multiple
sources I found tons of recordings and records on patients in the euthanasia wards.
From research gathered from Death and Deliverance and The Origins of
Nazi Genocide: The Final Solution and other sources, I gathered that while the main
purpose of the program was to euthanize the handicapped, other purposes were to
research effects and results of multiple tests on individuals and what that would do
to their lifespan. It also appears that the program was used to create efficient killing
methods and methods of keeping individuals alive and somewhat functional while
supplying the bare minimum. In The Origins of Nazi Genocide it was found that
one physician, Doctor Pfannmuller, who was in charge of a handicapped childrens
euthanizing ward was starving the children to death by slowly reducing their rations.

Mitchell 2
I have come to think that this may have been linked to a possible study/test to test
the limits of the human body and how long it can function on certain levels of
energy. Is there a possibility that this information was used in the creation of the
death camps to keep prisoners alive with the lowest resource costs? Sadly, I did not
have time to inquire further on this topic. Although starvation wasnt the main
method used in euthanizing children, it was still practiced and recorded. The most
popular method of euthanizing children was to overdose the individuals on
medication. This was done so that the doctors (physicians) could report a death by
natural causes and avoid suspicion and speculation by the general public and the
separate committee of health outside of Hitlers power. This helped me to raise the
question that if the Reich could fool so many and keep even more secrets, then how
much of this secretive information has been destroyed or never found? Is there a
chance that what we discovered and unveiled was only what the Reich allowed us to
discover? Aside from that, I concluded that most of this information meant that the
Reich most likely intended to turn the program into the death camps during the
stages of the war. The biggest supporting evidence I found of this was in The
Origins of Nazi Genocide.. In this source, it said that one of Hitlers men directly
stated that the program was to be put into place after the war started so peoples
attention would be elsewhere and the implementation and actions of the program
would go more or less unnoticed although some facilities had already been put into
place before then and the laws had not yet been passed. It was also found that
some of the war service awards were given to those who participated in the
euthanasia program and were given this award for completing special tasks for
the Reich. This means that not only did Hitler order the program to be put into
place, he also intended for those efforts from the program to be used to aid with the

Mitchell 3
war. This could include all the tests completed and information gathered from the
euthanizing methods and tests done by the physicians. Even greater evidence than
the statements made by his underlings is the decrees circulated by the RMDI. The
first controversial decree was one that required midwifes and physicians to report
all infants born with conditions such as idiocy, blindness, deafness, and any
mongolism along with abnormally sized heads, any deformities, paralysis, and any
other disease along with the age and sex of the child. On June 7, 1940 the RMDI
circulated another decree stating that, along with all of the other information
required, the address and religion of the childs parents or guardians was also
required along with more detailed information on the medical history of any parents,
sibling, and relatives along with the individuals capacity to work, their social status,
and even if they were of German blood. To me, this is the strongest evidence that
Hitler was using the medical system and the program to obtain information on
religion and, well, medical conditions and other information to help determine who
will be sent to and terminated in the camps. The fact that the form specifically
required an address and religion pushes me to believe that the program was being
used to log and identify the locations of anyone of Jewish religion and/or
unfavorable medical conditions. This is the biggest evidence I could find of
information linking the origin of the euthanasia program directly to the creation of
the death camps, there is no way this was not planned to happen, the program was
just a front to prepare and gather information for the death camps.
I found that while Hitler did euthanize many innocent children and adults
throughout the duration of the program, its not like the majority of these people
were ripped from their loved ones. In the beginning stages of the program and even
before the program started, parents, family members, and relatives were asking

Mitchell 4
Hitler for permission to have their children or relatives euthanized and for him to
provide the service. In the beginning stage of the program many families sent in
their handicapped relatives, some knowing what would happen and others, not so
much. It was advertised that the patients would be used to help further the
development of practices and technology to help the disabled, but from information
gathered from multiple sources, it was found that many knew they were sending
these people to their death beds, although most did not know that this research was
not being done to help the disabled.
During my research on why people did the things they did, I stumbled upon
an academic writing about physicians and their participation in the euthanasia
program. While some of this article had nothing to do with what I was looking for,
other parts of it had everything I was looking for. This article raised questions similar
to mine, such as what led so many people to participate in the program. The more I
thought about this the more I felt the need to look at the information and
perspective objectively, without inputting my own thoughts or ideals on the subject
and then to take that information and then integrate my ideas and thoughts. This
process proved helpful and I gained new insight on what I was looking for. I realized
that the factors, circumstances, and social norms in these peoples lives greatly
affected how they thought and what they thought. I found that it would be easy to
identify something as ok and just if everyone and everything else around you
suggested that it was. A good example of this is how there was a general
acceptance of the Jewish culture by most people and this was standard. But when
the standard slowly changed by third party influences, more and more people
gradually changed their mind and then deemed that way of thinking and those new
conclusions as correct and justified. Even if some did not agree with those ideals at

Mitchell 5
first, most gradually accepted the change because the average person wants to feel
connected and similar to everyone else, they want to feel like their ideas arent
ignored and there is no better way to do that than to agree with the majority of the
population, no one wants to be the odd ball out. So this perspective allowed me to
see how people could so easily change their view of right and wrong and twist their
morals so quickly and shamelessly. Because to them, majority rules, and it is easier
to be like everyone else, but it is much harder to be the odd one out. Of course
other factors played in such as the sheer power of the Reich and their control over
the media and all other sources of information. But it still stands that people slowly
accepted this, and for those who didnt, some gradually gave in because they felt
that there was nothing they could do against such large numbers and great odds,
when you are outnumbered it is easier to adapt and fit in. From this article I also
found that the physicians in the program felt that they were doing society a service.
Although some protested to the practices at first, they generally accepted them as
ok and justifiable if they already didnt. At the end of the program all physicians said
that they felt they had done nothing wrong, although their records and journals
show that at the start, some of them had differing opinions on that. This just goes to
show that people can be influenced and influenced easily especially over an
extended period of time. These conclusions were based on multiple sources and
findings, and lines of thought from different authors using my interpretation of the
information and perspectives I encountered.
Although I did not go very in depth into what happened in the euthanasia
program, I found I still learned and grew from the inquiry process. I intended to find
out as much as I could about the program and what all occurred within it. But I
found myself more fascinated with how people could change their way of thinking

Mitchell 6
so easily and devoted a lot of my time to that. Even though not much displayable
information was gathered from this (mostly theory) I found that I now understand
peoples viewpoints, ways of thinking, and where they are coming from a lot more
than I did before and I now accept these viewpoints more easily and readily.

Mitchell 7

Mitchell 8

Works Cited
Burleigh, M. (1994). Death and deliverance: "euthanasia" in Germany c. 1900-1945.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Friedlander, H. (1995). The origins of Nazi genocide: From euthanasia to the final
solution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Kessler, K. (January 01, 2007). Physicians and the Nazi Euthanasia
Program.International Journal of Mental Health, 36, 1, 4-16.
http://uncc.worldcat.org/title/physicians-and-the-nazi-euthanasiaprogram/oclc/1430356092563?referer=brief_results
Euthanasia Program. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2016, from
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005200
Euthanasia www.HolocaustResearchProject.org. (n.d.). Retrieved February
22, 2016, from http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/euthan/
The History Place - Points of View: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust by
Daniel J. Goldhagen. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2016, from
http://www.historyplace.com/pointsofview/goldhagen.htm
Unqualified Reservations. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2016, from
http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2011/10/holocaust-naziperspective.html

Mitchell 9
BERGEN, D. L.. (2012). Social Death and International Isolation: Jews in Nazi Germany, 19331939. In
L. R. KLEIN (Ed.), Nazi Germany, Canadian Responses: Confronting Antisemitism in the Shadow of
War (pp. 345). McGill-Queen's University Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt128391.7