1. Murder Becomes Nazi Policy
Holocaust PowerPoint #7

2. Early Pogroms
In 1938 Hitler created a committee that was to decide whether children born with weak or deformed bodies should be allowed to live
Child would be taken from home, given “the best care” and then die in a coma
T4 program was created to eliminate ill or insane adults
Sent to converted mental hospitals and gassed
Family received death certificate listing a fake cause of death
Soon became a scandal; mistakes were made, word leaked out
To remove controversy, Goebbels attacked Jewish doctors
Euthanasia is mercy killing
Nazi version was to kill anyone considered “better off dead”; patient not asked
In 1941, Himmler ordered that camps get rid of “excess” prisoners—Program 14f13
Who went was left up to doctors (elderly, those too young to work, those in poor health)

3. Medical Experiments
Performed by Nazi doctors using inmates as guinea pigs
Vaccinated with deadly diseases or dropped in icy water to see how long they could live
Dr. Josef Mengele “Angel of Death” and Dr. Heinz Thilo “Devil of Death” were at Auschwitz
Mengele looked for twins to experiment and find a way to multiply the Master Race; tried to create Siamese twins

4. The Final Solution
Used this as a code name for the mass murder of Jews and other “subhumans”
In 1941 Heydrich was given the green light to wipe out all of Europe’s Jews but faced problems:
Transporting prisoners to death camps strained the transportation system
Getting rid of bodies was a problem; they needed more incinerators
Shooting prisoners was hard on guards and many became alcoholics or had mental breakdowns
Bad publicity might hurt public morale
There were some Nazi officials who thought it was foolish to kill a Jew when his labor was needed for the war effort

5. Wannsee Conference
Heydrich called this meeting in Wannsee to discuss the problems
They thought that many would die on the long trip to the camps, those that survived were a problem; they might revive Jewish culture
He read off the number of Jews to be killed
131,800 German
5 million Russian
865,000 French
742,000 Hungarian
One official suggested the Final Solution begin in Poland since no transportation was necessary
Started building six death camps there
Discussed best methods for killing after they ate a filling lunch