Murder Becomes Nazi Policy

Holocaust PowerPoint #7

Early Pogroms• In 1938 Hitler created a committee that was to

decide whether children born with weak or deformed bodies should be allowed to live

• Child would be taken from home, given “the best care” and then die in a coma

• T4 program was created to eliminate ill or insane adults– Sent to converted mental hospitals and gassed– Family received death certificate listing a fake

cause of death– Soon became a scandal; mistakes were made,

word leaked out– To remove controversy, Goebbels attacked Jewish

doctors– Euthanasia is mercy killing

• Nazi version was to kill anyone considered “better off dead”; patient not asked

• In 1941, Himmler ordered that camps get rid of “excess” prisoners—Program 14f13– Who went was left up to doctors (elderly, those

too young to work, those in poor health)

Medical Experiments

• Performed by Nazi doctors using inmates as guinea pigs– Vaccinated with deadly diseases

or dropped in icy water to see how long they could live

• Dr. Josef Mengele “Angel of Death” and Dr. Heinz Thilo “Devil of Death” were at Auschwitz– Mengele looked for twins to

experiment and find a way to multiply the Master Race; tried to create Siamese twins

The Final Solution• Used this as a code name for the mass

murder of Jews and other “subhumans”• In 1941 Heydrich was given the green

light to wipe out all of Europe’s Jews but faced problems:– Transporting prisoners to death camps

strained the transportation system– Getting rid of bodies was a problem; they

needed more incinerators– Shooting prisoners was hard on guards

and many became alcoholics or had mental breakdowns

– Bad publicity might hurt public morale– There were some Nazi officials who thought

it was foolish to kill a Jew when his labor was needed for the war effort

Wannsee Conference• Heydrich called this meeting in Wannsee to

discuss the problems• They thought that many would die on the long trip

to the camps, those that survived were a problem; they might revive Jewish culture

• He read off the number of Jews to be killed– 131,800 German– 5 million Russian– 865,000 French– 742,000 Hungarian

• One official suggested the Final Solution begin in Poland since no transportation was necessary

• Started building six death camps there• Discussed best methods for killing after they ate a

filling lunch