The First into the Dark The Nazi Persecution of the Disabled

• Main Author: Robertson, Michael (auth)
• Other Authors: Ley, Astrid (auth), Light, Edwina (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Broadway, Australia UTS ePRESS 2019
• Subjects: Medical ethics & professional conduct; Genocide & ethnic cleansing; Combat / defence skills & manuals; Ethical issues: euthanasia & right to die; International human rights law; Personal & social issues: disability & special needs (Children's / Teenage); holocaust and genocide studies; disability and human rights; nazi war crimes; euthanasia and genetics; medical ethics; public memorialisation
• Online Access: OAPEN Library: download the publication; OAPEN Library: description of the publication

"Under the Nazi regime a secret program of 'euthanasia' was undertaken against the sick and disabled. Known as the Krankenmorde (the murder of the sick) 300,000 people were killed. A further 400,000 were sterilised against their will. Many complicit doctors, nurses, soldiers and bureaucrats would then perpetrate the Holocaust. From eyewitness accounts, records and case files, The First into the Dark narrates a history of the victims, perpetrators, opponents to and witnesses of the Krankenmorde, and reveals deeper implications for contemporary society: moral values and ethical challenges in end of life decisions, reproduction and contemporary genetics, disability and human rights, and in remembrance and atonement for the past."