The liberation of Auschwitz reminds us of the ignorance and evil dealt enormous cruelty upon people with disabilities.
By Andria Spindel, President and CEO, March of Dimes Canada – “Action T4” (German: Aktion T4) is likely not a familiar term to most Canadians, but to those of us in the disability/rehabilitation sector, it should be, and it should remind us that ignorance and evil dealt enormous cruelty upon people with disabilities as part of the Nazi-era agenda.
It is a reminder to recognize and support our fellow human beings’ dignity, equality, and humanity, including those with disabilities.
First, they came for the disabled.
The Holocaust that resulted in the death of 6,000,000 Jews included an official government-sponsored program.
From September 1939-August 1941, the T4 program leads to the extermination of 70,173 people with mental and physical disabilities, followed by an ensuing, less official elimination of another 200,000+ people with disabilities.
Treigartenstabe 4, the address of a villa in Berlin, in the borough of Tiergarten, was the headquarters of a supposed care institution that really served as the headquarters for Adolf Hitler’s private physician and henchmen who directed part of a eugenics program aimed at “cleansing, racial enemies,” including people with disabilities or mental health issues, from the German body politic.
Hadamar cemetery where the disabled were buried after euthanasia
Why must we remember January 27, 1945, and continue to memorialize those murdered and celebrate this day? Because on that day, the Soviet Red Army liberated one of the most notorious, sickening and inhuman death camps, the Auschwitz Concentration Camp, which included both labour and extermination camps, where at least 1.1 million people died. The place? Oswiecim, Poland.
The liberation of Auschwitz prisoners by the Russian army on January 25, 1945, Russian propaganda did not allow starving prisoners to be shown.
Of those killed, “90% were Jews, but there were 150,000 Poles, 23,000 Romani and Sinti, 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war, 400 Jehovah’s Witnesses, thousands of same, and tens of thousands of other people of diverse backgrounds.
Those who did not die in the gas chambers died of starvation, forced labour, infectious diseases, individual executions and medical experiments. “ (Wikipedia). The latter practice was part of the treatment of people with disabilities under Action T4.
On November 11th each year, we in Canada commemorate the end of World War II; Remembrance Day is a day to honour our own fallen soldiers.
Lest we forget, millions of people died for no reason other than their difference, their “otherness,” their “distinctiveness,” whether in dress, beliefs, customs, language, physical appearance, mental state, or sexual preference.
Crutches, braces and other devices for the disabled who were gassed at Auschwitz
We honour their memory on January 27th, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, an UN-sponsored commemorative day which should remind us that human beings can be too inhuman, that “NEVER AGAIN” MUST MEAN NEVER AGAIN, and that all human life has meaning, all human beings have value. Arising from the crematoriums’ ashes were several significant outcomes: The United Nations itself was created to help the world end hatred, end anti-Semitism, and end the war. Has it been successful?
The UN established the State of Israel to provide a permanent home for the Jewish people, allowing Jews to return to their ancestral home, should they wish. The concepts of equality, freedom, tolerance, inclusion, and diversity became part of our lexicon and shared values post WWII.
It didn’t all happen at once. In Canada, we have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees rights to all citizens. Still, its taken specific legislation like Ontario’s AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) to cover full inclusion for people with disabilities, and other institutional frameworks have also evolved to support these values.
At the UN, we have an international Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, endorsed by Canada and many other countries, setting a standard on human dignity for people with disabilities.
For March of Dimes and every disability/rehabilitation organization, our legacy must include knowledge that the horror of Action T4 is the antithesis of our values. Our vision is always to strive for a society inclusive of all people with disabilities. We have a moral obligation to remember the past and create a better future, loving and valuing the vulnerable and those with disabilities.
For more on the T4 Program and Hadamar, see The Nazi Euthanasia (T4) Programme.
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