“Back in 1939, Hitler demanded that all births of physically and mentally handicapped children be registered. Children up to three years of age had to be reported to the public health offices. Then selected children were sent to institutions where they were killed by lethal drugs or withdrawal of food. As many as 8,000 children lost their lives in the course of child euthanasia. Hitler then extended the program to adults. The object was to get rid of ‘useless eaters’ to save money and personnel, and to free up beds in hospitals. Those to be executed were ‘all children under three years of age in whom any of the following 'serious hereditary diseases' were 'suspected': idiocy and Down syndrome (especially when associated with blindness and deafness); microcephaly; hydrocephaly; malformations of all kinds, especially of limbs, head, and spinal column; and paralysis, including spastic conditions. [1] The reports were assessed by a panel of medical experts, of whom three were required to give their approval before a child could be killed. It was reported that 18,000 people were killed just at the Hartheim Euthanasia Centre. To get consent, parents were told that their children were being sent to ‘Special Sections’ for children, where they would receive improved treatment. The children that were sent were kept for ‘assessment’ for a while, and then killed by injection of toxic chemicals, typically phenol, and parents were then told that their child died of pneumonia.
“The Theory of Evolution gave what Hitler saw as a legitimate license to kill off those for which he considered to be inferior--six million Jews, Gypsies, people of dark skin, homosexuals and others, and at the same time reap the benefit of increased popularity and of billions of dollars for his war machine. And that’s why so many tolerate the elimination of what it is in the womb. It’s no big deal. There’s no ultimate right or wrong. We’re just animals, and animals often kill their offspring.”
Jonathan was quiet for a moment, then thoughtfully lifted his hand and gestured, “Still playing the devil’s advocate. Hasn’t evolution been proven? Isn’t it a scientific fact? We are just primates.”
