🔥 Aktion T4 Program — Nazi Germany's "Euthanasia" Program -Many of the personnel from T4 went on to work in Treblinka and Sobibor.
What it was:
A secret Nazi campaign to systematically murder people with disabilities — physical, mental, emotional — under the ideology of racial purity and "mercy killing."
When:
Officially operated from 1939 to August 1941, but killings continued covertly afterward.
Why:
The Nazis believed these individuals were a "burden on society", both economically and genetically. This fit into their larger racial ideology, where only the "strong" and "racially pure" (i.e., Aryans) were considered valuable.
Who was targeted:
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People with mental illnesses
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People with physical disabilities
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Children with deformities or syndromes
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Elderly or chronically ill individuals
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Sometimes even soldiers traumatized by WWI
What happened to the victims:
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Involuntary sterilization
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Institutionalization in inhumane conditions
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Murder, often via gas chambers, starvation, or lethal injection
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Families were lied to — told their loved ones died of natural causes
How many died:
Estimates range between 200,000 and 300,000 people across Germany and Nazi-occupied territories.
Why it’s called "T4":
Named after the address of the program's Berlin HQ: Tiergartenstraße 4.
Legacy:
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Aktion T4 was a precursor to the Holocaust — it was the first organized use of gas chambers.
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Many of the personnel from T4 went on to work in Nazi death camps like Treblinka and Sobibor.
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