Death and Deliverance: 'Euthanasia' in Germany, C.1900 to 1945

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CUP Archive, Oct 27, 1994 - History - 382 pages
Between 1939 and 1945 the Nazis systematically murdered as many as 200,000 mentally ill or physically disabled people whom they stigmatised as 'life unworthy of life'. This complex and covert series of operations was known as the 'euthanasia' programme. It provided many of the personnel and the technical expertise later deployed in the 'Final Solution'. This is the first full-scale study in English of the 'euthanasia' programme. It considers the role of all those involved in these policies: bureaucrats, doctors, nurses, health officials, lawyers, clerics, and also parents, relatives, and the patients themselves. Using a wealth of original archival material, it highlights many of the moral issues involved in a way that is profoundly disquieting. The book concludes by showing the ease with which many of the perpetrators filtered back into German society after 1945.
 

Contents

psychiatric reform and retrenchment
11
asylums in the 1930s
43
Wheels must roll for victory Childrens euthanasia
93
The psychopaths club
130
Gentlemens agreements? Responses to the euthanasia
162
the killing films of the Third Reich
183
from Aktion 14f13 to Trieste
220
Medieval or modern? Euthanasia programmes
239
How Professor Heyde became Dr Sawade
269
Learning from the Past? The Singer Debate
291
Notes
299
Bibliography
343
Index
373
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About the author (1994)

Michael Burleigh, as of the fall of 2000, is a professor of history at Washington and Lee University. He is the author of six previous books on Germany, including Death and Deliverance and Ethics and Extermination.

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