So this is one of the saddest things the Nazis did....firstly, the Nazis killed 'their own', i.e. 'Night of Long Knives' where Hitler killed members of the Nazi party who were not pro-him...then the Nazis killed their political opponents, i.e. socialists, communists, etc. Then....
the Nazis killed/murdered handicapped and mentally ill people because they were 'unworthy' of life. Just looking at this plaque made me cry...this was called 'Action/Operation T4'. And as usually the case is, once killing starts (French Revolution) it's hard to stop. So not only were mentally handicapped people killed, but also social misfits and homosexuals. In the end it is estimated that more than 200,000 were killed in this and other like 'euthanasia' programs. I HATE THAT TERM! Saying this was 'euthanasia' adds credence to the Nazi belief that they were indeed doing these people and their families and the country a service by 'euthanizing' them - I SAY IT IS MURDER and that is EXACTLY what it was! THE NAZIS MURDERED over 200,000 PEOPLE, not animals, who were like children and 'defenseless' and deserving of help and protection....
Here is one of the masterminds of the T4 Aktion. You can read in the following photo what other horrible things he went on to do...
This is a photo taken secretly in 1940 of one of the 'grey buses' that were used to transport mental patients to T4 killing centers - this shows the mental patients being registered before being transported to the killing center in Grafeneck. (and that's the other thing, euthanasia doesn't include experimentation, dying by carbon monoxide being pumped from a truck into the area where the handicapped person was!, starvation, etc... And what's crazy, just like a ball, this idea kept on rolling until it morphed into the gas chambers at concentration camps...
As a memorial a group built a 'grey bus' that you could walk through, i.e. you were now the patient being taken away in 2008 on the Aktion T4 site....
May it never happen again!
