Nazi Persecution of the Mentally & Physically Disabled
Darwinism, race, and eugenic concepts were put forward in the early twentieth century. An organization, the German Society for Racial Hygiene, founded in 1905 supported these concepts. It believed that due to development in modern medicine and the welfare programs, the Darwinian natural selection process has been weakened and the unfit part of the population is allowed to survive. The ‘unfit’ mentioned here represents people with metal diseases like tuberculosis, syphilis, gonorrhea, and other contagious diseases. These mentally and physically handicapped people were incapable of working and required special care that costs tons of money. They were useless to the society and unworthy to live. However surprisingly, these mentally retarded and ill persons were able to reproduce at a faster rate than the valuable people. If the population grows uncontrollably, then these biological defective groups would inevitably influence the healthy part of the population. As a result, cities would be overcrowded, people would suffer from extensive poverty, crime rate would increase dramatically, and most importantly, the average quality of the German race would be decreased. The proponents of eugenics believed that these physically unfit people should be excluded from reproducing through sterilization. (Jewish Virtual Library) |
Written on the top of the poster it says, "Here you are sharing the load. A hereditarily sick person costs on average 50,000 Reichsmarks up to the age of 60". This poster shows a healthy German citizen working hard to support the heavy burdens caused by genetically deficient groups.
Since these people cannot contribute in the
building of their country, therefore they are unworthy to live
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