OCTOBER 1939

HITLER AUTHORIZES KILLING OF THE IMPAIRED

Adolf Hitler authorizes the beginning of the "euthanasia" program -- the systematic killing of those Germans whom the Nazis deem "unworthy of life." The order is backdated to the beginning of the war (September 1, 1939). At first, doctors and staff in hospitals are encouraged to neglect patients. Thus, patients die of starvation and diseases. Later, groups of "consultants" visit hospitals and decide who will die. Those patients are sent to various "euthanasia" killing centers in Greater Germany and killed by lethal injection or in gas chambers.

AUGUST 3, 1941

CATHOLIC BISHOP DENOUNCES EUTHANASIA

By 1941, the supposedly secret "euthanasia" program is generally known about in Germany. Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen of Muenster denounces the killings in a public sermon on August 3, 1941. Other public figures and clergy will also raise objections to the killings.

AUGUST 24, 1941

HITLER OFFICIALLY ORDERS END TO "EUTHANASIA" KILLINGS

Mounting public criticism of the "euthanasia" killings prompts Adolf Hitler to order the end of the program. Gas chambers in the various "euthanasia" killing centers are dismantled. By this time, about 100,000 German and Austrian physically or mentally impaired patients have been killed. Although the "euthanasia" program is officially ended, the killing of physically or mentally impaired people continues in secret in individual cases.