Aachen, North Rhine-Wetphalia, Germany — Central Europe
Mord an Behinderten / The Murder of the Disabled
— Wege gegen das Vergessen 1933-1945 Aachen —
Photographed By Andrew Ruppenstein, October 21, 2023
1. Mord an Behinderten / The Murder of the Disabled Marker
The former Aachen city health department was located at this site. Here, in the course of the National Socialist racial madness from 1934 onwards, particularly compliant doctors were involved in the fact that several hundred women, men and children were labeled as "inferior" and were forcibly sterilized in seven Aachen hospitals to "prevent hereditary disease", or from 1941 to 1945 were sent to “Euthanasia” institutions and murdered there.
Erected by Wege gegen das Vergessen. (Marker Number 29.)
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Science & Medicine
this page online
Location. 50° 46.114′ N, 6° 5.466′ E. Marker is in Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Wetphalia). Marker is on Römerstraße, on the right when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: Römerstraße 10, Aachen HE 52064, Germany. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Aachen Hauptbahnhof / Aachen Main Railway Station (within shouting distance of this marker); Alemannia Aachen Football - Main Station / Hauptbahnhof (within shouting distance of this marker); Der schnitzende Pennsoldat / The Whittling Soldier (approx. 0.3 kilometers away); Kreuzigungsgruppe Henger Herrjotts Fott / Crucifixion Tableau “Behind the Lord’s Buttocks” (approx. 0.4 kilometers away); GESTAPO (approx. half a kilometer away); Franziska Schervier (approx. 0.6 kilometers away); Joseph Buchkremer (approx. 0.8 kilometers away); Franz Oppenhoff (approx. 0.8 kilometers away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Aachen.
Also see . . .
1. Mord an Behinderten (Wege gegen das Vergessen). For each of their 40+ markers, Wege gegen das Vergessen (“Ways Against Forgetting”) presents a page on their website
Photographed By Andrew Ruppenstein, October 21, 2023
2. Mord an Behinderten / The Murder of the Disabled Marker - wide view
Excerpt (in translation): From the first years of their rule, the Nazis announced various racist laws and regulations. This included, for example, the “Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring” passed in July 1933, with the result that sick people could be forcibly sterilized. This began the persecution of disabled and sick people - which for many victims ended with their murder. And the health authorities at that time had the task of ensuring that these inhumane laws were implemented. And they did. 90% of the requests for compulsory sterilization were made by doctors from the health authorities. Since 1934, doctors classified several hundred women, men and children in Aachen as “inferior” and ordered their forced sterilization. These procedures were carried out surgically or with X-ray radiation in one of the Aachen hospitals. Only the Catholic Marienhospital did not carry out forced sterilizations because the Catholic Church had spoken out against it for ethical reasons.
But during the Nazi era, people were not only mutilated in the name of “public health,” they were even killed. As part of the so-called “euthanasia measures”, disabled and sick people were also deported from Aachen to special institutions such as Hadamar or Waldniel and murdered there, often after cruel medical experiments.
Photographed By Andrew Ruppenstein, October 21, 2023
3. Mord an Behinderten / The Murder of the Disabled Marker - wider view
2. Euthanasia Program and Aktion T4 (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).
On the Program to Murder People with Disabilities: The Euthanasia Program was the systematic murder of institutionalized patients with disabilities in Germany. It started in 1939, about two years before the Nazis began systematically murdering Europe's Jews as part of the "Final Solution." The program was one of many radical eugenic measures which aimed to restore the racial "integrity" of the German nation. It aimed to eliminate what eugenicists and their supporters considered "life unworthy of life": those individuals who—they believed—because of severe psychiatric, neurological, or physical disabilities represented both a genetic and a financial burden on German society and the state.(Submitted on October 23, 2023.)
Credits. This page was last revised on October 23, 2023. It was originally submitted on October 23, 2023, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California. This page has been viewed 233 times since then and 7 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on October 23, 2023, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California.
