IN PROGRESS

THE T4 STORY

Hadamar

Grafeneck

CATHERINE MARY MACÍAS

The Nazi T4 Program

The T4 Program was specifically developed by the Nazi’s in 1939 to deal with individuals, who had a disability, were elderly, were mentally insane, or who were considered to be in any way feebleminded and weak. T4 stands for Tiergarten Strafe number 4, which was the address of the main administration offices of this program in Berlin. The program was responsible for the deliberate murder of over 100,000 individuals.
Although much intense discussion and debate about what to do with those members of society who were too weak or defective had occurred between political and medical members of the Nazi hierarchy, it was not until early 1938 that the first human being was euthanized by the permission and order of the government.


In early 1938, a doctor’s wife requested to speak to Hitler regarding having her child killed. The little boy, who came to be known as the Knauer Baby, was missing two limbs, was blind, and may have been mentally retarded. Hitler addressed the issue with his favored general, Karl Brandt. They agreed to kill the child as a test case. After the murder of this child proved to be successful, in the eyes of Karl Brandt, it was then decided to formally design a program of mass murder for children with disabilities, regarded to be life unworthy of life, and who were impediments to the Nazi’s drive to world power. Hitler appointed politicians, military leaders, and physicians to oversee and develop what eventually became the T4 Program.

An elaborate system of selection and murder was created and six hospitals were designated for the T4 Program. When a baby was born, a nurse would register the baby, recording the health status and noting any abnormalities. If the baby had a disability, the T4 personnel were notified. Medical students were trained to examine and recommend babies and children to the T4 program. Nurses were ordered to keep watch for any signs of a disability in a child.

The selected babies and children were then carted off to the killing centers, mostly by deceiving the parents into thinking the children were going to residential asylums. A variety of killing methods were tried out on these child victims, including allowing the babies to starve to death in their cribs and myriad poisonous injections. Once the child was dead, the families received false death certificates.

In the latter part of 1939 an adult program was created which included the elderly and those who were mentally insane. In many instances the adult victims fought their murderers to the very end, some having to be strapped in gurneys. As the T4 Program became increasingly known among the public for what it was, families began to hide their relatives who were elderly or had disabilities. Eventually the T4 Program was “shut down” due to public outcry. However, the T4 Program continued to operate on an underground level during what has come to be known as the wild euthanasia phase, and the murder of human beings who had disabilities, the elderly, the weak, and those with mental illnesses lasted throughout the Holocaust.