THE NUREMBERG LAWS CREATING THE ROAD TO THE

THE NUREMBERG LAWS: CREATING THE ROAD TO THE T-4 PROGRAM By Jennifer Hight

INTRODUCTION v. Nuremberg Laws: implemented September 15, 1935 v. These laws established a foundation for a eugenics program that the Nazi doctors performed on inmates in T-4 centers and concentration camps from 1939 to 1945. v. The Nuremberg Laws were the first law codes to give discrimination a strong legal standing and removed repercussions against doctors’ actions towards their patients which created the Nazi eugenics program.

THE NUREMBERG LAWS v. Reich Citizenship Law v. Law for the Protection for Hereditary Health v. Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor

REICH CITIZENSHIP LAW v Revoked the status of Jews as legal citizens v Define what it meant to be German or Jewish v Created the framework the Nazis would use to persecute Jews and other minorities v Was later applied to other minorities, the disabled, mentally and terminally ill

LAW FOR THE PROTECTION OF HEREDITARY v. Anyone the Nazis deemed as carrying HEALTH inheritable diseases would be forced to undergo sterilization v. Diseases ranged from schizophrenia to alcoholism v. Anyone with a physical disability was sterilized v. Patients could not refuse sterilization

LAW FOR THE PROTECTION OF GERMAN BLOOD AND GERMAN HONOR v. Outlawed marriage between Germans and Jews v. Defined “mixed race” children v. Established legal concept of blood purity

v. Gleichschaltung Program v. Social coordination v. Nazi party used propaganda to control every aspect of society v. Compliance v. German citizens trained to be compliant v. Lack of protest allowed Nazis to escalate their programs v. Violent Demonstration v. SS- Hitler’s paramilitary. Harassed and attacked Jews and other minorities v. Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)- Predetermined night of violence against Jews by Germans. Targeted businesses and synagogues THE PATH TO THE T -4 PROGRAM

SURVIVORS TESTIMONY ABOUT PATH TO T-4 Joshua Degani Kurt Messerschmidt v. Jewish survivor v. Faced persecution under Coordination v. Testimony on silence after Kristallnacht v. Not allowed into movie theaters v“I’m sure, in this particular situation, that some of the people standing there disapproved of what the Nazis did. But the disapproval was only silence. And silence is what did the harm” v. Family barber refused to cut hair v. Schterma = propaganda books

T-4 PROGRAM v 6 killing centers, but all hosptials included v. Targeted disabled and mentally ill v. Sterilized individuals the Nazis deemed inferior v. Killed victims with sleeping pills, injections, and poison gas v. Doctors chose patients who had “anatomy that interested the researcher” v. Killed and autopsied these patients v. Corpses were experimented on

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN T-4 CENTERS AND CONCENTRATION CAMPS T-4 Facilities v. Patients transported with gekrat buses v. Death buses v. Doctors and physicians used selection process Concentration Camps v. Trains for transportation v. Selection used on prisoners v. Mass murder with poison gas v. Zyklon B gas v. Mass murder with poison gas v. Crematoriums and mass graves v. Experiments conducted on prisoners v. Experiments conducted on autopsied bodies v. Mengele, Luftwaffe, and other

CONCLUSION v. T-4 Program v. Escalated into the Holocaust v. Desensitized Nazi doctors to mass murder and human experiments v. Citizenship Weaponized v. Citizenship only real protection v“Other” vs. Germans v. Issues of medical Consent v. Experiment Review Boards v. Signed consent for medical procedures