The ‘First To Perish’

The Medical Professional Elimination Program and the Ideology and Motivation of Nazi Physicians

“… 26 , 27 Social Darwinism and so-called “scientific” racial hygiene would become part of the complex groundwork that led to euthanasia, the death camps, and medical experimentation on non-Aryan subjects. 28 …”

“…What followed could not have been achieved without the support and aid of the Aryan medical profession. 2 , 3 , 28 The Program started out as a simple “rehabilitation” of the professional civil services, but that Act paved the way for what would follow, all carefully legislated, law upon law. 3 Among these laws were: The Sterilization Law of July 1933, minimizing the reproduction of “defectives” in 1934, and the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 aimed at promoting racial purity, to name a few.…”

“…The program was widely accepted by the medical community and strongly opposed by the public. 28 Officially, the program would only be observed until 1941; unofficially it continued to the end of the war.…”

“…What followed could not have been achieved without the support and aid of the Aryan medical profession. 2,3,28 The Program started out as a simple "rehabilitation" of the professional civil services, but that Act paved the way for what would follow, all carefully legislated, law upon law. 3 The first official instance of euthanasia in Germany occurred in 1939 at the Leipzig Children's Hospital.…”

“…3 The first official instance of euthanasia in Germany occurred in 1939 at the Leipzig Children's Hospital. 4,28 That it was performed on a so-called "monster" at the request of his parents is already shocking. But what followed after the child was euthanized would have far-reaching consequences.…”