💉 Aktion T4 and 14f13 Guide: The "Euthanasia" Programs

The above image is on Adolf Hitler’s personal stationery, the edict reads:

„BERLIN, DEN 01. Sept. 1939 Reichsleiter Bouhler und Dr. med. Brandt sind unter Verantwortung beauftragt, die Befugnisse namentlich zu bestimmender Ärzte so zu erweitern, dass nach menschlichem Ermessen unheilbar Kranken bei kritischster Beurteilung ihres Krankheitszustandes der Gnadentod gewährt werden kann. — A. Hitler“

English: The wording of the edict: “Reich Leader Bouhler and Dr. Brandt are entrusted with the responsibility of extending the authority of physicians, to be designated by name, so that patients who, after a most critical diagnosis, on the basis of human judgment [menschlichem Ermessen], are considered incurable, can be granted mercy death [Gnadentod]. — A. Hitler”

The two war criminals (aside from Hitler) mentioned in the note are:

• Dr. med. Karl Brandt (Hitler's personal physician)
• Philipp Bouhler (SS-Obergruppenführer and leader of Hitler’s Chancellery)

💡 Background: Eugenics and Nazi Ideology

The poster, published by the Nazi Party's Office of Racial Policy, states: “60 000 RM is what this person suffering from hereditary illness costs the community in his lifetime. Fellow citizen, that is your money too.”

The Nazi "euthanasia" programs were rooted in eugenic concepts, which gained global traction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These concepts promoted the idea of enhancing a population's genetic "quality."

• Pre-Nazi Eugenics: Early 20th-century eugenics movements focused on classifying and targeting marginalized groups (e.g., the poor, developmentally disabled, the deaf, certain racial communities, and homosexuals) for segregation or forced sterilization in multiple nations, including the U.S. and U.K.
• Nazi Application: Adolf Hitler embraced these ideas, incorporating them into Mein Kampf (1925). After gaining power, eugenic policies rapidly escalated from forced sterilization to segregation, institutionalization, and, ultimately, mass extermination.

🔪 The Euthanasia Initiatives: T4 and 14f13

Aktion T4 and 14f13 were Nazi extermination initiatives focused on eliminating individuals classified as "unfit" or a "burden" on the German state, primarily people with mental or physical disabilities and illnesses.

Photo 1938: Buchenwald concentration camp. Physically and mentally ill Jews. (USHMM)

Aktion T4

• Timeline: Officially ran from 1939 to 1941, though unofficial killings continued until 1945.
• Target Group: People with physical disabilities, mental illnesses, and other conditions deemed genetically or racially "unfit" for German society.
• Method: The program utilized gas chambers, pioneering the use of carbon monoxide for mass killing.
• Name Origin: Named after Tiergartenstraße 4, the address of its headquarters in Berlin.

14f13 (“Invalid” Camp Inmates Euthanasia)

• Timeline: Began in 1941 and continued until the end of the war.
• Target Group: This was an extension of T4, targeting concentration camp prisoners who were deemed elderly, ill, or unable to work (arbeitsunfähig).
• Name Origin: Also known as Sonderbehandlung 14f13 (“Special Treatment 14f13”), its name derived from the paperwork code used in the concentration camp inspectorate system.

🔢 Victim Statistics

The true number of victims murdered under these programs is not fully known due to the destruction of records and the continuation of unofficial killings after 1941.

🔎 Research and Inquiries

I. Key Centers, Memorials, and Archives

• Gedenstätte Hadamar/ Hadamar Memorial Museum Archives: https://www.gedenkstaette-hadamar.de/forschung/archiv-sammlung-dokumentation/
• Euthanasie«-Morde an der Berliner Tiergartenstraße 4 (T4 Memorial): https://www.gedenkort-t4.eu/en
• Euthanasia Centre 1940–1944 (Schloss Hartheim): https://www.schloss-hartheim.at/en/memorial-exhibition/historic-site/euthanasia-centre-1940-1944
• ROOM OF NAMES: THE DECEASED OF THE MAUTHAUSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP (includes 14f13 victims): https://raumdernamen.mauthausen-memorial.org/en

II. Requesting Information

• US Holocaust Memorial Museum: Research an Individual: https://www.ushmm.org/remember/resources-holocaust-survivors-victims/individual-research/services/getting-started
• Gedenstätte Hadamar/ Hadamar Memorial Museum: Research Inquiries: https://www.gedenkstaette-hadamar.de/en/research/inquiries/

III. Sources and Further Reading

• USHMM Euthanasia Program: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/tags/en/tag/euthanasia-program
• Euthanasia Centre at Bernburg (NS-Tötungsanstalt Bernburg): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernburg_Euthanasia_Centre
• The Nazi Euthanasia (T-4) Program: Background & Overview (Jewish Virtual Library): https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/background-and-overview-of-the-nazi-euthanasia-t-4-program
• “Euthanasia” centers, Germany 1940-1945 (Map) (USHMM): https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/map/euthanasia-centers-germany-1940-1945
• Euthanasia Program and Aktion T4 (USHMM): https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/euthanasia-program
• Die Krankenmorde in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus (Wikipedia DE): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krankenmorde_in_der_Zeit_des_Nationalsozialismus
• USHMM Aktion T4 Articles: https://www.ushmm.org/search?query=aktion+t4
• Hartheim Killing Centre: In the Lair of Nazi Medical Crimes: https://malevus.com/hartheim-killing-centre-in-the-lair-of-nazi-medical-crimes/
• Wikipedia: Karl Brandt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Brandt
• Wikipedia: Philipp Bouhler: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philipp_Bouhler

Credits and Licensing

Compiled by Mark Rabideau, Opa & Professional Genealogist.

All materials licensed: CC BY-ND 4.0 by eirenicon llc.