In The Schools Human Rights and Genocide What Was the T-4 Project? By Kristen Aliano, Cold Spring Harbor High School, New York Tiergartenstrasse 4, Berlin was the full address of the Once there, victims were stripped and given paper clothes. Fuhrer Chancellory; the initials of this address, T4, became They were subsequently killed in gas chambers by hydrocyanic the name of a Nazi euthanasia/sterilization program against the gas. The dead bodies were then removed to crematoriums to mentally and physically disabled. Although the ideas of ridding be burned. Handicapped children and babies were killed by starvation or deadly doses of drugs. Despite public protests against the killing of mentally and physically impaired persons in 1941, the Nazi regime continued with its program in secret throughout World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, approximately 200,000 disabled persons were killed in gas chambers. T4 became a training ground for SS men who manned concentration camps, as well as a model for the German plan of mass extinction of the Jews and other peoples in gas chamber- equipped concentration camps in 1941 and 1942. Some members of the clergy in Germany spoke out against the program. As a result, Hitler ordered the T4 program to cease the killing of patients in gas chambers. Although the war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945, the last recorded killing was of a four year old boy on May 28, 1945. The T4 program and the Nazis’ actions caused many Hartheim castle, a euthanasia killing center where people with physical and mental disabilities were killed by gassing and lethal eugenicists to reverse their beliefs that euthanasia was one of the injection. Hartheim, Austria, date uncertain. Courtesy of USHMM best ways to rid the human race of genes that caused people to be Web Site prone to incurable illnesses. However, the sterilization of such persons was continued into the 1970s. the human race of undesirable genes were not new notions, actual programs that utilized eugenics’ principles did not materialize until the 1930s. During the 1930s, the political and Sources: economic climate of Germany provided the perfect breeding www.disabilityhistory.org/t4prog.html ground for actions to be taken against the physically and mentally www.ushmm.org challenged. The T4 project grew out of “eugenics”, one of the leading fields of biology in the early 20th century. The eugenics movement, which started in the United States, was an attempt to cleanse the human gene pool of all “undesirable” traits, such as the incurably ill. The German Nazi Party took the eugenics movement to extreme levels; German Chancellor Adolph Hitler wanted to remove all persons who were seen as “unfit” or “impure” from his “master” Aryan race. The T4 program included four organizations: the Realms Work Committee, which was in charge of gathering information about patients; the Realms Committee for Scientific Approach to Severe Illness Due to Heredity, which was in charge of euthanasia for children, the organization that was in charge for transport of patients to killing centers, and the Charitable Foundation for Institutional Care, which disposed of the victims’ remains. In order to genetically cleanse the human race, all persons deemed “undesirable” by German doctors were transferred to one of six institutions in Germany and Austria. One View of the cemetery at the Hadamar Institute, where victims of the such institution was the Hadamar Mental Institution. Nazi euthanasia program were buried. 34 35 Human Rights and Genocide Human Rights and Genocide A Peace Center in Every Meeting By Mary Mills, Mandel Teaching Fellow of the USHMM Almost two years ago, Linda Jeffrey and I decided to in these areas for teachers and the community; establishing a present the Woodstown, New Jersey Monthly Meeting our plan library of resources for review and loan to area schools and the for a “peace center” within the Woodstown Meetinghouse. After community; coordinating organizations involved in fostering receiving the blessing of the Woodstown Meeting and a room for the peace, and providing a neutral location for conflict resolution. peace center, we began to chart the course the peace center would Most recently, Zalptia Wilson-Hill gave a wonderfully follow. Linda and I arrived at the decision to form a peace center informative PowerPoint presentation on the Civil Rights through different routes. For Linda, the establishment of a peace Movement and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The choir of the center was almost a natural outgrowth Morning Star Baptist Church played an of her work as the clerk of the Peace integral role in this presentation. and Social Justice Committee, as an “…let eternal light penetrate In the Fall, the Peace Center will host alternate NGO representative, and the darkness…that surrounds Rev. Dave Bailey, the director of Ranch her strong opposition of bullying that Hope, a residential and counseling culminated in an article on bullying, us.” facility for disturbed teenagers. Rev. which appeared in the Journal of Bailey will discuss peace and dealing -Hans Albrecht Emotional Abuse. with violence in schools. For me, it was the result addressing the 1933 German It is hoped that the Peace Center of an extensive mental and physical will reach out to and help people from journey that covered about 1700 Yearly Meeting of the Society varied backgrounds. In the tradition of mlies in three weeks and led me to of Friends Rachael Davis Dubois, we intended to another dimension of the Holocaust: form conversation circles that will build the activities of the Society of Friends bridges and establish common ground. in Nazi Germany. My travels took me to the Friends Meetinghouse May we all come to realize, respect and value diversity, which, in Bad Pyrmont, Germany and to Frankenau, Germany, where I after all, is essential to our spiritual unity. was given access to Professor Hildegard Feidei-Mertz’s personal library. There I read the original correspondence of Hans Albrecht, the clerk of the German Yearly Meeting from 1927 to 1947. During the planning stages of the peace center, I presented a few firesides on the activities of the Friends inside Nazi Germany, and in April, 2001, we hosted a type of Yom Hashoah at Woodstown Meeting, where Mrs. Martin Niemoeller, the widow of Pastor Martin Niemoeller; one of Hitler’s personal prisoners, and Sol Finkelstein, a concentration camp survivor, related their experiences. Their discussion underscored the basic premise of the Peace Center: promotion of peace and resolution of conflict. The goals of the Salem County Peace Center at Woodstown Friends Meeting focus upon reducing bias, bigotry, discrimination, and intolerance; providing training programs Dear Honey and all participants of the Holocaust/Genocide Project. From Lyubov Grunkovskaya Some people believe, that there was no Holocaust in our the “Hole” in Minsk. The hole is the place in Minsk where country, and that the Jews just invented the word “Holocaust” several thousands of Jews were killed by fascists one day). I to show the tragedy of their people during the World War 2. hope to know more about Holocaust during this project and 1) Is there such a situation in your countries as in Belarus? find answers to different questions. Of course, we discuss 2) Is the topic of “Holocaust/Genocide” discussed in your these problems a lot, but these are the opinions of people countries and are there any monuments of this tragedy in from one particular country. It’s very interesting to know your countries? what people from other countries think about it. Now I have 3) Why people don’t want to know about such things as a possibility to use the computer and internet, so I am ready Holocaust/Genocide? E.g. There is no Jewish burial-ground to continue my participation in HGP. at the place Ghetto, which was during the WW2, and we just know about the Ghetto because of the monument near “New Line Club” Minsk, Belarus. 36 37 Human Rights and Genocide Human Rights and Genocide The Sand Creek Massacre By Brian Koster, Cold Spring Harbor High School, New York, USA The Holocaust was a terrible period in the history of they would be safe if they remained at Sand Creek. mankind. Who could have possibly imagined that a country, When Colonel Chivington arrived at Fort Lyon, the battle Germany, would systematically destroy more than six million was already planned. Chivington was reported to have been very people simply because they were Jewish? Unfortunately, the excited about the approaching massacre. The troops prepared Holocaust was not the first example, nor will it be the last example, themselves, and embarked on the forty mile hike to Sand Creek. of genocide. The Cheyenne put up meager security because they thought that The United States of America has also seen its share the army was going to protect them. The army approached the of genocide. Prejudice towards Native Americans began when camp to find that it consisted of more women and children than Columbus landed in the New World. The prejudice continued warriors. The massacre started while the Cheyenne were still through the centuries, and it still exists today. It reached a climax asleep. in 1864 when a most horrific and barbaric attack occurred on the The soldiers began shooting anything that was moving. Cheyenne people. It is one The campground was a of the saddest moments scene of confusion and in American and Native pandemonium because American relations. the Cheyenne were so The Cheyenne surprised by the attack. leader, Black Kettle, was During the massacre, always known for his women and children unique desire that there began to gather around be peace between his tribe Chief Black Kettle’s tent and the United States.