Berlin memorial to Nazis’ disabled victims
Germany has inaugurated a memorial to more than 200,000 people with physical and mental disabilities killed by the Nazis after their lives were deemed “worthless”.
The transparent 79ft (24m) blue glass wall outside the Berlin Philharmonic concert hall is near memorials to the Jewish Holocaust victims and the Nazis’ gay and gypsy, or Roma, victims, opened over the past decade.
It stands on the site of a villa where the murder of patients at hospitals and mental institutes was co-ordinated. More than 70,000 people were gassed at centres for what the Nazis described as their euthanasia operation, coded “T4” in reference to the building’s address, Tiergartenstrasse 4, in 1940 and 1941.
It saw “a technology of killing tested and carried out for the first time on defenceless, sick and disabled people, a test run for all the Nazis’ following programmes of mass eradication,” said Sigrid Falkenstein, whose aunt, Anna Lehnkering, was sterilised and later killed.
Tens of thousands more were killed using methods such as injections and starvation, and mental patients were targeted by SS units in countries invaded by Nazi Germany.
In all, estimates of the number of mentally and physically disabled people murdered under various Nazi euthanasia programmes range from around 200,000 to 300,000.
Few of the administrators and doctors involved were brought to justice after the Second World War. Culture minister Monika Gruetters said it had taken too long for Germany to publicly commemorate the long-ignored victims.
The memorial, which includes audio and video information on the programme and its victims, confronts visitors with “a way of thinking that presumes to judge the worth of individual lives”, Ms Gruetters said.
She added that the programme also benefited from “a deformation of moral senses which ultimately led many people to believe that killing sick and disabled people was something like an act of pity, and ethically legitimate”.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
