The phrase "life unworthy of life" (german: Lebensunwertes Leben) was a Nazi designation for the segments of the populace which according to the Nazi regime had no right to live. Those individuals were targeted to be murdered by the state ("

euthanized Animal euthanasia ( euthanasia from el, εὐθανασία; "good death") is the act of killing an animal or allowing it to die by withholding extreme medical measures. Reasons for euthanasia include incurable (and especially painful) conditi ...

"), usually through the compulsion or

deception Deception or falsehood is an act or statement that misleads, hides the truth, or promotes a belief, concept, or idea that is not true. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda and sleight o ...

of their caretakers. The term included people with serious medical problems and those considered grossly inferior according to the

racial policy of Nazi Germany The racial policy of Nazi Germany was a set of policies and laws implemented in Nazi Germany under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, based on a specific racist doctrine asserting the superiority of the Aryan race, which claimed scientific legi ...

. This concept formed an important component of the

ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

and eventually helped lead to

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. It is similar to but more restrictive than the concept of ''

Untermensch ''Untermensch'' (, ; plural: ''Untermenschen'') is a Nazi term for non- Aryan "inferior people" who were often referred to as "the masses from the East", that is Jews, Roma, and Slavs (mainly ethnic Poles, Serbs, and later also Russians). The ...

'', subhumans, as not all "subhumans" were considered unworthy of life (Slavs, for instance, were deemed useful for slave labor). The "euthanasia" program was officially adopted in 1939 and came through the personal decision of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. It grew in extent and scope from '' Aktion T4'' ending officially in 1941 when public protests stopped the program, through the Action 14f13 against concentration camp inmates. The "euthanasia" of certain cultural and religious groups and those with physical and mental disabilities continued more discreetly until the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The methods used initially at German hospitals such as lethal injections and

bottled gas Bottled gas is a term used for substances which are gaseous at standard temperature and pressure (STP) and have been compressed and stored in carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum, or composite bottles known as gas cylinders. Gas state in ...

poisoning were expanded to form the basis for the creation of

extermination camps Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...

where cyanide gas chambers were purpose-built to facilitate the extermination of the Jews, Romani, communists, anarchists, and political dissidents.

History

The expression first appeared in print via the title of a 1920 book, ''Die Freigabe der Vernichtung Lebensunwerten Lebens'' (''Allowing the Destruction of Life Unworthy of Life'') by two professors, the jurist

Karl Binding Karl Ludwig Lorenz Binding (4 June 1841 – 7 April 1920) was a German jurist known as a promoter of the theory of retributive justice. His influential book, ''Die Freigabe der Vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens'' ("Allowing the Destruction of Life ...

(retired from the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

) and psychiatrist

Alfred Hoche Alfred Erich Hoche (; 1 August 1865 – 16 May 1943) was a German psychiatrist known for his writings about eugenics and euthanasia. Life Hoche studied in Berlin and Heidelberg and became a psychiatrist in 1890. He moved to Strasbourg in 1891. F ...

from the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...

.Cover of ''Die Freigabe der Vernichtung Lebensunwerten Lebens'' (''Allowing the Destruction of Life Unworthy of Life'') at German Wikipedia. According to Hoche, some living people who were brain damaged, intellectually disabled, autistic (though not recognized as such at the time), and psychiatrically ill were "mentally dead", "human ballast" and "empty shells of human beings". Hoche believed that killing such people was useful. Some people were simply considered disposable.Dr S D Stein
"Life Unworthy of Life" and other Medical Killing Programmes.
UWE Faculty of Humanities, Languages, and Social Science – via Internet Archive. Later the killing was extended to people considered 'racially impure' or 'racially inferior' according to Nazi thinking. The concept culminated in

Nazi extermination camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...

s, instituted to systematically murder those who were unworthy to live according to Nazi ideologists. It also justified various human experimentation and

eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

programs, as well as Nazi racial policies.

Development of the concept

According to the author of ''Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide''

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

Robert Jay Lifton Robert Jay Lifton (born May 16, 1926) is an American psychiatrist and author, chiefly known for his studies of the psychological causes and effects of wars and political violence, and for his theory of thought reform. He was an early proponent of ...

, the policy went through a number of iterations and modifications:

References

External links

"Life Unworthy of Life" and other Medical Killing Programmes
by Dr. Stuart D. Stein, University of the West of England
Contemporary English translation of "Allowing the Destruction of Life Unworthy of life"
by Dr. Cristina Modak * German text online o

{{World War II The Holocaust in Germany Nazi eugenics Nazi terminology Holocaust terminology

History

Development of the concept

See also

References

External links