Hitler’s First Victims: The Nazi Forced Sterilization Program and the Euthanasia Project

When Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, eugenicists welcomed his appointment. Many in the eugenics community believed that Hitler would be the one to put their theories into real practice to “cleanse” the population of Germany. They were correct. Moving first against those deemed to be “unhealthy” and “unfit” to be members of the People’s Community, the Nazi regime began forced sterilizations. By 1939, Hitler was ready to move to eliminate the mentally ill and physically disabled in what came to be called the “Euthanasia” Project. Learning about the “Euthanasia” Project is critical to understanding the evolution of Nazi killing methods.

Dr. Griech-Polelle is Kurt Mayer Chair of Holocaust Studies, Pacific Lutheran University. She is the author of Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust: Language, Rhetoric and the Traditions of Hatred, Trajectories of Memory: Intergenerational Representations of the Holocaust in History and the Arts, The Nuremberg War Crimes Trial and its Policy Consequences Today, Bishop von Galen: German Catholicism and National Socialism.

Presented by the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education and Union Station Kansas City in support of the exhibition Auschwitz: Not long ago. Not far away.