Hide Article Text (OCR)
German Bishop Condemns“Mercy Deaths” of InsaneAnd Sick by Nazi Leaders. *Berlin, Oct. 10.—The spreading practico of “mercy killing,” quietly advocated by certain Nazi quarters, has come into the spotlight in Germany.An officially approved film, “Ich Klage An” (I Accuse”), has madg. the question of killing mental defectives, invalids and the incurably sick, because they are “unprovince of Westphalia of such patients who as so-called ‘unproductive countrymen/ are to be taken away and in a short time deprived of their lives. The first transport left the institution at Marienthal near Muenster in the course of this week (July 31).“As the cause of death, any kind of sickness is given. Because theproductive” under the Nazi eon-body is immediately cremated, rela-cept, one of public debate.At the same time the outspoken bishop of Muenster, Count Clemens August von Galen, has made an expose of Nazi “mercy deaths” and denounced the practice. Some months ago the Lutheran bishop, Theophil Wurnfl of Wuerttemberg, also attacked “mercy death” teaching in a letter addressed to AdolfHitler.Bishop von Galen, who unhesitatingly speaks his mind and of late has even defied the Gestapo, warned that if the principle of“killing unproductive fellow creatures” is recognized, then even the lives of crippled war veterans and the aged aren’t safe.“I have been assured that in the ministry of the interior and in the Dffice of the reich’s leader of physicians (health director), Dr. Leonardo Conti, no secret is made of the fact that a great number of insane in Germany already have been deliberately killed and in the future are to be killed,” he declared as recently as August 3 in i sermon at St. Lamberti's church, Muenster, Westphalia.Bishhop von Galen elaborated :hat statement In his sermon, now naking the rounds of Germany in ihain letter fashion.“For several months/* the bishop iaid, “we have heard reports that mtients who have been ill for a ong time and perhaps appear to be neurable have been forcefully re-noYed from sanatorlums and asy-ums for the insane by orders from Berlin.“Regularly then, after a short ime, a relative received notice that he person had died, the body had )een cremated, and. the ashes couldtives and also the police later can no longer establish whether the sickness really existed and what was the cause of death.“The first transport of innocent persons condemned to death has left Marienthal/’ he continued, “and, according to what I hear, 800 patients already have been taken from the sanatorium at Warstein,” Going into the reasons given for the “mercy deaths,” the bishop said that “according to the judgment of some doctor, according to theopinion of some commission, theyhave become ’unworthy to live/ because, according to these judgments, they belong to 'unproductive countrymen.' One judges that they no longer can produce goods, they are like an old machine which no longer runs; they are like an old horse which has become incurably lame; they are like a cow which no longer gives milk.” “What does one do with such old machines?” the letter continued, “They are scrapped. What does' one do with a lame horse, with such unproductive cattle?—no, I won’t carry the comparison to the end.“If it is once conceded that men haVe the right to kill ‘unproductive fellow creatures’ and if at first it affects only poor helpless insane persons—then fundamentally the murder of all unproductive persons is given free rein, the murder of incurably sick persons and cripples unable to work, invalids of industry and the war, of us all when we become old and woak with age and therewith unproductive.“Then it is only necessary to issue a secret decree that the method tested on the insane also is to be extended to other unproduetives,1i4Jilttf
Newspaper Details
Joplin News Herald
Joplin, Missouri, US
Fri, Oct 10, 1941
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Muskingum C.
OH, USA 04 Nov 2019
Other Publications Near Joplin, Missouri
Joplin Globe
Joplin Morning Tribune
Joplin Sunday Globe
Joplin News Herald
Joplin Daily Globe
