World War II Germany[edit]Originally Posted by SassyLady
Main article: Action T4
Adolf Hitler enacted the Aktion T4 program in October 1939 to kill "incurably ill, physically or mentally disabled, emotionally distraught, and elderly people". The Aktion T4 program was also designed to kill those who were deemed "inferior and threatening to the well being of the Aryan race". This program was also designed as part of a larger, "Final Solution" eugenics program. Within months of enactment, the Nazis expanded its definition of who could be killed to include those who were of a certain ethnicity as well as class. Six killing centers were established for T4, one of the most notable being the Hadamar Euthanasia Centre. At these centers, people deemed handicapped or "unfit" by "medical experts" were put to death. For example, gas chambers were disguised to look like showers and some people (particularly children) were starved to death. Often at these centers, the victims were murdered together in gas chambers using carbon monoxide.[6] The research undertaken by the Nazis on the victims, was used as a prototype for extermination camps such as Auschwitz and Treblinka later on in the war.[7][clarification needed] Approximately 200,000 people were murdered in the six years of the T4 program. The T4 "euthanasia" institutions were shut down by Allied troops in 1945.[6]
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