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German Bishop Condemns“Mercy Deaths” of InsaneAnd Sick by Nazi Leaders. *Berlin, Oct. 10.—The spreading praetico of “mercy killing/' quietly advocated by certain Nazi quarters, has come into the spotlight in Germany.An officially approved film, “Xch Klage An ('T Accuse}, has madg the question of killing mental defectives, invalids and the incurably sick, because they are “un-, productive under the Nazi concept, one of public debate.At the same time the outspoken bishop of Mucnster, Count Clemens August von Galen, has made an expose of Nazi “mercy deaths and denounced the practice. Some months ago the Buthoran bl3hop, Theophil Wurnl of Wuerttemberg, also attacked “mercy death teaching in a letter addressed to Adolf Hitler.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 Dfflce 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. Bamberti's church, Mucnster, Westphalia.Bishhop von Galen elaborated :hat statement In hia sermon, now making the rounds of Germany in chain 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 removed from sanatoriums and asy-ums for the insane by orders from 3erlin.“Regularly then, after a short ime, a relative received notice that he person had died, the body had )een cremated, and. the ashes could e delivered. A suspicion, border-ng on certainty, exists generally hat these numerous and unexpect-id cases of the death of the insane lon’t happen of themselves but are ntentionally brought about, that he teaching is being followed vhich maintains that one may detroy the lives of so-called ’persons inworthy to live,’ and so kill innosent persons if one thinks their ives are no longer of use to the lation and state.This wafl #i. rAfftrAr»r»A fr» nan.province of Westphalia of such patients who as so-called ’unproductive eoqntrymen,’ are to be taken away and in a short time deprived of their lives. The first transport left the institution at Marlenthal near Muenster in the course of this week (July 31).“As the cause of death, any kind of sickness is given. Because the body is immediately cremated, relatives 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 Marlenthal,” 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 maahines? 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 unproductives, that this also may be used in incurable pulmonic patients, aged invalids, and soldiers seriously injured in the war!MARINE'S REMARK TOO MUCH TO POINTJacksonville, N. C. — UP) —Two marines walking along Jacksonville street fell in step with a stranger.
Newspaper Details
Joplin News Herald
Joplin, Missouri, US
Fri, Oct 10, 1941
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Muskingum C.
OH, USA 11 Nov 2019
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