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| Dr Robert Jay Lifton |
THE NAZI DOCTORS:
Medical
Killing and
the
Psychology
of Genocide © |
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142 |
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| “LIFE UNWORTHY OF LIFE”: THE
GENETIC CURE |
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arrangements with 14f13 leaders and colleagues connected
the two elements of self, as in a postcard sent from the famous popular scenic
area, the Starnberger See, near Munich (“Since we first begin working
tomorrow, we have taken a beautiful outing” [September 1941]) and signed
by not only Mennecke himself but also Dr. Gerhard Wischer, head of the Waldheim
institution in Saxony; Dr. Nitsche; Dr. Victor Ratka; Dr. Rudolf Lonauer,
director at Hartheim; Erich Bauer, chauffeur; and, added separately, Dr.
Theodor Steinmeyer. There is also a group photograph of these relaxed
excursionists.25*
Also contributing
to balancing his two selves was pride at being classified as
“essential” to (and therefore not liable to military draft), and
honored by the regime. Mennecke was sentenced to death by a German court but
died in prison in 1947 of tuberculosis contracted during his
“euthanasia” work.26 |
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| The Evolving Genocidal
Mentality |
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Of the number of people killed in the T4 and the 14f1
projects the following statistics are usually given: adult mental patients from
institutions, 80,000 to 100,000; children in institutions 5,000; special action
against Jews in institutions, 1,000; concentration-camp inmates transported to
killing centers (14f13) 20,000 (Klee estimated that at the end of 1941, some
93,521 “beds” had been emptied for other uses [70,000 patients
gassed, plus over 20,000 dead through starvation and medication] — in
other words approximately one-third of the places for the mentally ill.)27 But these figures may well be too low; twice
these numbers of people may have perished. The fact is that we do not know and
shall probably never know. Elements of deception, imposed chaos, and the
destruction of many records make anything like an accurate estimate impossible.
The same is true concerning the total number of people murdered at
specific killing centers. Hartheim victims of both ordinary
“euthanasia” and 14f13 are variously estimated from 20,000 (by Dr.
Georg Renno, Lonauer’s successor as director), to 400,000 (by Franz
Ziereis, the former, commandant of Mauthausen, on his deathbed); 30,000 is
believed to be the best estimate.28 While
these figures may seem unimpressive when placed next to the millions killed in
the Final Solution, they represent the murder of shockingly large numbers of
people — all in places characterized as hospitals.
Mennecke
described to his wife, on 12 January 1942, an obscure but |
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* Mennecke revealed similar
patterns in thanking the director of an institution he had visited in order to
press “euthanasia” selections: “We will think back with joy on
the days we spent with you ... and have the nicest remembrances of the
individual wards.” |
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THE NAZI DOCTORS:
Medical Killing and the
Psychology of
Genocide
Robert J. Lifton
ISBN 0-465-09094
©
1986 |
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