The Origins of Nazi Genocide: From Euthanasia to the Final Solution

Mémorial de la Shoah

by Henry Friedlander

Tracing the rise of racist and eugenic ideologies, Henry Friedlander explores in chilling detail how the Nazi program of secretly exterminating the handicapped and disabled evolved into the systematic destruction of Jews and Gypsies. He describes how the so-called euthanasia of the handicapped provided a practical model for the later mass murder, thereby initiating the Holocaust.

The Nazi regime pursued the extermination of Jews, Gypsies, and the handicapped based on a belief in the biological, and thus absolute, inferiority of those groups. To document the connection between the assault on the handicapped and the Final Solution, Friedlander shows how the legal restrictions and exclusionary policies of the 1930s, including mass sterilization, led to mass murder during the war. He also makes clear that the killing centers where the handicapped were gassed and cremated served as the models for the extermination camps.

Based on extensive archival research, the book also analyzes the involvement of the German bureaucracy and judiciary, the participation of physicians and scientists, and the nature of popular opposition.

Genres: History, Holocaust, Nonfiction, World War II, Race

450 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Kristina]

Hard to believe I read this in Junior High. I was on a quest, I already knew some basic info, but I wanted to know the how and why. This book answers fully. No stars because well, yeah. I could give it 5 stars for thoroughness, but 1 star because why one earth did this happen?

[Sean Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My blood ran cold reading a few chapters in. It's know that the Nazis engaged in unmitigated evil, but how it started with the handicapped and children. That was something I did not know.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a severely disabled person, I am immensely interested in this subject-matter, for obvious reasons and several not-so-obvious reasons. Needless to say, I went into this with great expectations; and, perhaps not-so-surprisingly, I came away very disappointed. Although the author seeks to do honor to the lesser-known victims of the Holocaust; the book itself doesn't do a good enough job of this, at least personally. I'm unsure whether this is a stylistic issue; if, indeed, this is a result of the scant amount of concrete evidence pertaining to this atrocious aspect of the wider horrors of WWII, as the author claims; or whether this is due to something else entirely.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. Once again, a little academic for my taste but it definitely added to my knowledge of the Nazi regime.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely chilling. Behind-the-scenes look at how the Nazis went from exterminating their own people - even children - and gradually broadened their evil quest.

[Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sad treatise outlining the legalization of genocide.