www.ushmann.org First came 'forced sterilization'
Nazi Germany was not the first or only country to sterilize people considered "abnormal." Before Hitler, the United States led the world in forced sterilizations. Between 1907 and 1939, more than 30,000 people in twenty-nine states were sterilized, many of them unknowingly or against their will, while they were incarcerated in prisons or institutions for the mentally ill.
Still, no nation carried sterilization as far as Hitler's Germany. The forced sterilizations began in January 1934, and altogether an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 people were sterilized under the law. A diagnosis of "feeblemindedness" provided the grounds in the majority of cases, followed by schizophrenia and epilepsy. The usual method of sterilization was vasectomy and ligation of ovarian tubes of women. Irradiation (x-rays or radium) was used in a small number of cases. Several thousand people died as a result of the operations, women disproportionately because of the greater risks of tubal ligation.
Most of the persons targeted by the law were patients in mental hospitals and other institutions. The majority of those sterilized were between the ages of twenty and forty, about equally divided between men and women. Most were "Aryan" Germans.
Then came killing.
The idea of killing the incurably ill was posed well before 1939. In the 1920s, debate on this issue centered on a book co-authored by Alfred Hoche, a noted psychiatrist, and Karl Binding, a prominent scholar of criminal law. They argued that economic savings justified the killing of "useless lives" ("idiots" and "congenitally crippled"). Economic deprivation during World War I provided the context for this idea. During the war, patients in asylums had ranked low on the list for rationing of food and medical supplies, and as a result, many died from starvation or disease. More generally, the war undermined the value attached to individual life and, combined with Germany's humiliating defeat, led many nationalists to consider ways to regenerate the nation as a whole at the expense of individual rights.
In 1935 Hitler stated privately that "in the event of war, [he] would take up the question of euthanasia and enforce it" because "such a problem would be more easily solved" during wartime. War would provide both a cover for killing and a pretext--hospital beds and medical personnel would be freed up for the war effort. The upheaval of war and the diminished value of human life during wartime would also, Hitler believed, mute expected opposition. To make the connection to the war explicit, Hitler's decree was backdated to September 1, 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland.
HADAMAR
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In all, between 200,000 and 250,000 mentally and physically handicapped persons were murdered from 1939 to 1945 under the T-4 and other "euthanasia" programs. The magnitude of these crimes and the extent to which they prefigured the "Final Solution" continue to be studied. Further, in an age of genetic engineering and renewed controversy over mercy killings of the incurably ill, ethical and moral issues of concern to physicians, scientists, and lay persons alike remain vital.
Are we so far removed from the beliefs of this ideology; that disabled people are people who have 'useless lives'. I argue not.
During the last few years in Ireland and the UK; Politics of a right-wing flavour has dominated during an era of 'austerity'. Just as in the first world war when 'austerity' prevailed and economic deprivation justified killing of 'useless lives' we've seen an erosion of rights for disabled people.
Welfare benefits are cut, new taxes are designed that directly impact disproportionately on disabled/il/elderly people (bedroom tax UK) increases in prescription charges (Irl), diminution of public health services for the poor (Irl) Vital grants cut to support disabled children in schools (UK & Ireland) , Mobility & Motorised transport grants to enable easy movement in society cut and never replaced (Irl), forced employment of sick and disabled people has led to huge increases of suicide for this group (UK) . Hate crime against disabled people has rocketed in the UK (no laws at all in Ireland!). Medical cards for vulnerable people are removed (Irl), and personal supports of Personal assistants (UK & Irl) has meant a return to institutions for many as there are no viable choices.
Discussion of alleged 'voluntary' euthanasia for sick and disabled people has taken off, as they are apparently living 'intolerable lives'. One suspects sick and disabled people are increasingly 'hearing' the message they are burdens on their families and state; economically and socially. The elderly are increasingly left in hospitals as families can't or won't look after them. Mercy killing is almost accepted as sad but understandable as this 'useless life' is snuffed out.
But what is pernicious in the new Nazi ideology of today's right wing politics is how disabled people must beg for the scraps from the health services tables. from the tables of employment and transport, from the fashion cat-walks to the shops the glaring invisibility of disabled people speaks volumes of the Nazi ideology of lives that are -untermenschen- useless - not worthy of being seen.
As a disabled women of 62 already classed as 'elderly' and not given the help or services that we need, my twin and I have suffered the local Co Wicklow's service provider mentality that clearly speaks, not about our quality of life, but rather about how 'expensive' we are. Every request for a service is countered , refused on the basis of MONEY/COSTS. Too expensive equates YOU are too expensive! 'Useless lives'. The sinister thing is, the service providers say what we receive is good! But 'good' by what standard? By the standard of eugenics!
The message this gives is that we are not wanted, either here in Co Wicklow, or on this planet. The Nazi ideology of 'extermination' of useless lives cannot be played out in quite the same way today, 2014, but that does not mean it has been erased.
No, it only takes other forms - "you are not worthy of a service - a GOOD service" - and this is justified.
The non-disabled 'normal' worthy service providers sleep well at night with no qualms or worries.
Whilst we struggle for scraps from the table. HADAMER is not far away.
