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Aktion T4

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Aktion T4

Aktion T4 (German, pronounced [akˈtsi̯oːn teː fiːɐ]) was a campaign of mass murder by involuntary euthanasia which targeted people with disabilities and the mentally ill 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 Tiergartenstraße 4, a street address of the Chancellery department set up in early 1940, in the Berlin borough of Tiergarten, which recruited and paid personnel associated with Aktion T4. Certain German physicians were authorised to select patients "deemed incurably sick, after most critical medical examination" and then administer to them a "mercy death" (Gnadentod). In October 1939, Adolf Hitler signed a "euthanasia note", backdated to 1 September 1939, which authorised his physician Karl Brandt and Reichsleiter Philipp Bouhler to begin the killing. The killings took place from September 1939 until the end of World War II in Europe in 1945. Between 275,000 and 300,000 people were killed in psychiatric hospitals in Germany, Austria, occupied Poland, and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now the Czech Republic). The number of victims was originally recorded as 70,273 but this number has been increased by the discovery of victims listed in the archives of the former East Germany. About half of those killed were taken from church-run asylums. In June 1940, Paul Braune and Fritz von Bodelschwingh, who served as directors of sanatoriums, protested against the killings, being members of the Lutheran Confessing Church. The Holy See announced on 2 December 1940 that the policy was contrary to divine law and that "the direct killing of an innocent person because of mental or physical defects is not allowed". Bishop Theophil Wurm of the Lutheran Confessing Church "wrote an open letter denouncing the policy." Beginning in the summer of 1941, protests were led in Germany by the bishop of Münster, Clemens von Galen, whose intervention led to "the strongest, most explicit and most widespread protest movement against any Nazi policy since the beginning of the Third Reich", according to Richard J. Evans. Several reasons have been suggested for the killings, including eugenics, racial hygiene, and saving money. Physicians in German and Austrian asylums continued many of the practices of Aktion T4 until the defeat of Germany in 1945, in spite of its official cessation in August 1941. The informal continuation of the policy led to 93,521 "beds emptied" by the end of 1941. Technology developed under Aktion T4, particularly the use of lethal gas on large numbers of people, was taken over by the medical division of the Reich Interior Ministry, along with the personnel of Aktion T4, who participated in the mass murder of Jewish people under Operation Reinhard. The number of people killed was about 200,000 in Germany and Austria, with about 100,000 victims in other European countries. Following the war, a number of the perpetrators were tried and convicted for murder and crimes against humanity.

Infobox

Also known as
T4 Program
Location
German-occupied Europe
Date
September 1939 – 1945
Incident type
Forced euthanasia
Perpetrators
SS
Participants
Psychiatric hospitals, T4-Gutachter
Victims
275,000–300,000[a]

Tables

Victims of Aktion T4 (official data from 1985), 1940 – Sep 1941[91] · Number of euthanasia victims
Grafeneck
Grafeneck
T4 Center
Grafeneck
Period
20 Jan – Dec 1940
1940
9,839
1941
—
Total
9,839
Brandenburg
Brandenburg
T4 Center
Brandenburg
Period
8 Feb – Oct 1940
1940
9,772
1941
—
Total
9,772
Bernburg
Bernburg
T4 Center
Bernburg
Period
21 November 1940 – 30 July 1943
1940
—
1941
8,601
Total
8,601
Hartheim
Hartheim
T4 Center
Hartheim
Period
6 May 1940 – Dec 1944
1940
9,670
1941
8,599
Total
18,269
Sonnenstein
Sonnenstein
T4 Center
Sonnenstein
Period
Jun 1940 – Sep 1942
1940
5,943
1941
7,777
Total
13,720
Hadamar
Hadamar
T4 Center
Hadamar
Period
Jan 1941 – 31 July 1942
1940
—
1941
10,072
Total
10,072
Total by year
Total by year
T4 Center
Total by year
Period
35,224
1940
35,049
1941
70,273
In hospitals in occupied Poland
In hospitals in occupied Poland
T4 Center
In hospitals in occupied Poland
Owińska
Owińska
T4 Center
Owińska
Period
Oct 1939
1940
1,100
Kościan
Kościan
T4 Center
Kościan
Period
Nov 1939 – Mar 1940
1940
(2,750) 3,282
Świecie
Świecie
T4 Center
Świecie
Period
Oct–Nov 1939
1940
1,350
Kocborowo
Kocborowo
T4 Center
Kocborowo
Period
22 September 1939 – Jan 1940 (1941–44)
1940
2,562 (1,692)
Dziekanka
Dziekanka
T4 Center
Dziekanka
Period
7 December 1939 – 12 January 1940 (Jul 1941)
1940
1,201 (1,043)
Chełm
Chełm
T4 Center
Chełm
Period
12 January 1940
1940
440
Warta
Warta
T4 Center
Warta
Period
31 March 1940 (16 Jun 1941)
1940
581 (499)
Działdowo
Działdowo
T4 Center
Działdowo
Period
21 May – 8 July 1940
1940
1,858
Kochanówka
Kochanówka
T4 Center
Kochanówka
Period
13 March 1940 – Aug 1941
1940
(minimum of) 850
Helenówek (et al.)
Helenówek (et al.)
T4 Center
Helenówek (et al.)
Period
1940–1941
1940
2,200–2,300
Lubliniec
Lubliniec
T4 Center
Lubliniec
Period
Nov 1941
1940
(children) 194
Choroszcz
Choroszcz
T4 Center
Choroszcz
Period
Aug 1941
1940
700
Rybnik
Rybnik
T4 Center
Rybnik
Period
1940–1945
1940
2,000
Total by number
Total by number
T4 Center
Total by number
Period
c. 16,153
T4 Center
Period
1940
1941
Total
Grafeneck
20 Jan – Dec 1940
9,839
—
9,839
Brandenburg
8 Feb – Oct 1940
9,772
—
9,772
Bernburg
21 November 1940 – 30 July 1943
—
8,601
8,601
Hartheim
6 May 1940 – Dec 1944
9,670
8,599
18,269
Sonnenstein
Jun 1940 – Sep 1942
5,943
7,777
13,720
Hadamar
Jan 1941 – 31 July 1942
—
10,072
10,072
Total by year
35,224
35,049
70,273
In hospitals in occupied Poland
Owińska
Oct 1939
1,100
Kościan
Nov 1939 – Mar 1940
(2,750) 3,282
Świecie
Oct–Nov 1939
1,350
Kocborowo
22 September 1939 – Jan 1940 (1941–44)
2,562 (1,692)
Dziekanka
7 December 1939 – 12 January 1940 (Jul 1941)
1,201 (1,043)
Chełm
12 January 1940
440
Warta
31 March 1940 (16 Jun 1941)
581 (499)
Działdowo
21 May – 8 July 1940
1,858
Kochanówka
13 March 1940 – Aug 1941
(minimum of) 850
Helenówek (et al.)
1940–1941
2,200–2,300
Lubliniec
Nov 1941
(children) 194
Choroszcz
Aug 1941
700
Rybnik
1940–1945
2,000
Total by number
c. 16,153

References

  1. As many as 100,000 people may have been killed directly as part of Aktion T4. Mass euthanasia killings were also carried
  2. Tiergartenstraße 4 was the location of the Central Office and administrative headquarters of the Gemeinnützige Stiftung
  3. Notes on patient records from the archive "R 179" of the Chancellery of the Führer Main Office II b. Between 1939 and 19
  4. Robert Lifton and Michael Burleigh estimated that twice the official number of T4 victims may have perished before the e
  5. This was the result either of club foot or osteomyelitis. Goebbels is commonly said to have had club foot (talipes equin
  6. Robert Lifton wrote that this request was "encouraged"; the severely disabled child and the agreement of the parents to
  7. Professors Werner Catel (a Leipzig psychiatrist) and Hans Heinze, head of a state institution for children with intellec
  8. Lifton concurs with this figure, but notes that the killing of children continued after the T4 programme was formally en
  9. The second phase of Operation Tannenberg referred to as the Unternehmen Tannenberg by Heydrich's Sonderreferat{ began in
  10. Several drafts of a formal euthanasia law were prepared but Hitler refused to authorise them. The senior participants in
  11. According to Lifton, most Jewish inmates of German mental institutions were dispatched to Lublin in Poland in 1940 and k
  12. These figures come from the article Aktion T4 on the German Wikipedia, which cites Ernst Klee.
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