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"), usually through the compulsion or deception of their caretakers. The term included people with serious medical problems and those considered grossly inferior according to the racial policy of Nazi Germany. This concept formed an important component of the ideology of

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) i ...

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; ...

. It is similar to but more restrictive than the concept of '' Untermensch'', 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 (German, ) was a campaign of mass murder by involuntary euthanasia in Nazi Germany. The term was first used in post- war trials against doctors who had been involved in the killings. The name T4 is an abbreviation of 4, a street address o ...

'' ending officially in 1941 when public protests stopped the program, through the

Action 14f13 Action 14f13, also called '' Sonderbehandlung'' (special treatment) 14f13 and Aktion 14f13, was a campaign by Nazi Germany to murder Nazi concentration camp prisoners. Also called ''invalid'' or ''prisoner euthanasia'', the sick, the elderly and ...

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 opposing ...

. The methods used initially at German hospitals such as lethal injections and bottled gas poisoning were expanded to form the basis for the creation of extermination camps where cyanide

gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or other animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History ...

s 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 (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. ...

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 research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...

.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 o ...

programs, as well as Nazi racial policies.

Development of the concept

According to the author of ''Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide'' psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, 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 The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England. The institution was know as the Bristol Polytechnic in 1970; it received university status in 1992 and ...

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