Term Paper on "Hitler's Germany"

Term Paper 4 pages (1606 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Eugenics and Complicit Professionals of Hitler's Nazi Germany

The objective of this work is to review what the philosophical, racial, political, and economic goals of German doctors, lawyers who were ardent supporter of the Nazi regime have in common with the Nazis, and how the Nazis used these two groups to coordinate their policies in the respective areas. This work will provide evidence to support the answers asserted in this work, which is concerning eugenics and the philosophy of racial superiority.

NAZI DOCTOR SUPPORTERS

The work of Sally M. Rogow entitled: "Hitler's Unwanted Children" that "Childhood in Nazi Germany was cast in the mythic illusion of a super race. Children who did not meet the social or biological criteria of 'perfect' children were removed by force from their homes and communities, isolated in institutions, hospitals, work and concentration camps, and many thousands were murdered. (Rogow, nd) Rogow relates that these actions of pulling children from the community arise from Nazi racial biology and eugenics and as well:."..it was part and parcel of the effort to impose control and conformity on the entire German population." (nd) in the Nazi's persecution of selected groups of individual, they established "a system of thought control that reached deeply into family life. Many of these children taken from their homes and to various institutions and prisons were murdered. The Nazi's were "expert at the creation of power groups that robbed their opposition of public voice or power. A small tightly knit group of university medical scientists and psychiatrists, who planned and administered the euthanasia killings, dominated university departments, wrote and reviewed articles for one another's journal and never bothered to consult their colleagues." (Sogow, nd) However, there were less than 200 doctors acting as willing participants in medical crimes although hundreds were away of what was occurring in Germany. The lie has been told that parents of disabled in children were complicit in their being euthanized however, the many hundreds of cases that were filed in the courts against hospitals and institutions making charges of negligence relates history differently. Rogow relates that Dr. Ernst Wentzler was "one of the chief architects of the children's killing program..." And that Wentzler, "...killed unwanted children in his Berlin clinic." (nd)

II. The LEGAL PROFESSION in HITLER'S GERMANY

In order for individuals in Nazi Germany to marry, the individuals wishing to marry were required by laws and decrees that had been issued to "prove their genetic value." (Sogow, nd) One such law was the 'Law for the Prevention of Progeny of the Genetically Unhealthy' (1933) which."..legislated mandatory sterilization of persons with mental handicaps or mental illnesses." (Sogow, nd) the 'Marriage Law' of 1935 prohibited marriage for individuals with heredity illnesses, which included "blindness, deafness, physical disabilities and mental handicaps." (Sogow, nd) Those who were social non-conformists, delinquents and whom had emotional problems were said to have "inferior genes." (Sogow, nd) Sogow relates that "Arbitrary criteria such as suspected mental handicap, poor work habits and delinquency were also used in the system of social selection." (nd) 181 Genetic Health courts and appellate Genetic Health Courts were created in 1934 in order to enforce the health laws and decrees issued by the Nazis. Sogow states the fact that "these courts were attached to local civil courts and presided over by two physicians and a lawyer. All physicians were required to register every case of genetic pathology with the courts and failure to do so was punishable." (nd) Others required to report were public health officials, teachers and social workers if they even suspected that a child had any type of emotional problem or disability of any type. The Nazis searched with zeal to seek out individuals with illnesses of a hereditary nature and if the condition was not one caused by genetics," then the term 'congenital' was said to have been substituted for 'hereditary'. (Sogow, nd) Non-conformist youth in Germany belonged to one of two groups, which were, the: (1) Edelweiss Pirates; and (2) the Swing Movement. The Edelweiss Pirates were young boys from families in the working class who would not bow under the heavy hand of the Hitler Youth and instead "created their own cultural forms and modes of action which made it possible for them to create meaningful attitude to everyday life and repudiate the National Socialists society. Adolescents from families in the wealthy or middle class comprised the Swing Movement who were "apolitical; they had money to spend on clothes and nightclubs where they indulged in their love of 'jitterbugging' and American Jazz." (Sogow, nd) Youth from both of these movements were sent to work and concentration prison camps and were murdered. Rogow states that the Nazis used a combination of "lies and deception" along with "regulations and decrees" to force parents to institutionalize their children. Institutions that formerly had been successful in rehabilitation of disabled individuals turned into "work camps and killing centers." (nd) Specifically noted by Rogow is "Kalmenof established to serve children with psychiatric illnesses, neurological disabilities or mental handicaps became one of the main child killing centers." (nd) Furthermore, for institutions that children were not killed in there was only one doctor with the responsibility of approximately 500 patients, which meant that: "...children were rarely examined or given therapy or treatment." (Rogow, nd) Only a few days after the war's declaration in 1939 the decree was issued by Hitler granting authority to physicians to murder children with the timing of the decree during of war being precise to cause minimization to protest that arise from the church and the public. Burleigh (1994) and Friedlander (1994) report that: "The Chancellery of the Fuhrer (the Kdf, the Kanzlei des Fuhrer) appointed physicians who operate the child program under the fictitious organization, the 'Reich Committee for the Scientific Registration of Severe Hereditary Ailments'." (Rogow, nd) Over 250,000 children were victims of Hitler's programs for 'mercy death' or Euthanasia. While is was the very young and new physicians who actually conducted the murders of the children, they received support and encouragement from older and more established physicians and one of them being a psychiatrists, Dr. Werner Villinger, a professor of Psychiatry at the University of Breslau. Another psychiatrist and chief administration f Brandenberg-Goerden, Dr. Hans Heinze is accredited for opening "the first children's killing ward in 1940." (Rogow, nd) Doctors and nurses alike received monetary rewards for participating in the killing and as well managed to avoid service in the military. Rogow relates the fact that the physicians and nurses totaled 400 "who administered the death" to children in the programs of 'mercy death'. (nd) a great deal of so-called scientific experimentation took place with these children and afterwards they were 'disinfected' or murdered. A neuropathologist, Dr. Julius Hallevorden, is stated to have "collected brains and boasted of the wonderful material he had obtained from 'defectives'. (Aly, 1994; as cited in Rogow, nd) There were a few physicians including public health physicians who attempted to prevent the transfer of individuals to the killing wards and as well there were judges in the German courts who were responsible for legal guardianship and who "attempted to countermand orders to transfer children under their legal guardianship without success." (Rogow, nd) Specifically named is Heinrich Hermann, director of an institute for the death, and a Swiss citizen "who refused to comply with Nazi policies." (Rogow, nd) the attempts of parents to make legal claims against the hospitals and institutions was ended when in 1941 Hitler issued a decree that prevented any types of legal actions being filed against the institutions. One must ask how and why these institutions and legal entities came under the influence of the Nazis to such a great extent that they cooperated in murdering children. Rogow states that it was "Dependence on government funding and failure of… READ MORE

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