What were Nazi eugenics?
Q: What were Nazi eugenics?
A: Nazi eugenics was a set of beliefs and rules that were very important to Nazi Germany during World War II. These beliefs said that the Aryan race was the master race – the best race of all – and all other races were inferior (not as good). There were also many other people who the Nazis believed were "life unworthy of life," like people with disabilities.
Q: How did the Nazis try to get rid of those they deemed “inferior”?
A: The Nazis tried to get rid of those they deemed “inferior” by forcing more than 400,000 people with disabilities to be sterilized (to have surgery that would make it impossible for them to have children) and killing over 300,000 people with disabilities in a program called Action T4. In this program, the Nazis sent people with disabilities to places like Hadamar and Hartheim Euthanasia Centres where they were killed with lethal injections and poison gas, in vans and gas chambers at the Euthanasia Centres.
Q: What did the Nazis learn from killing people with disabilities?
A: The Nazis learned from killing people with disabilities how to build extermination camps (death camps). They used these death camps as part of their goal to exterminate (kill all of) Jewish and Roma people in Europe. They also sent many other people who they thought were inferior to concentration camps, where they were forced to work as slaves.
Q: Who did the Nazis consider superior?
A: The Nazis considered members of the Aryan race superior compared to all other races which they deemed inferior or not as good.
Q: What was Action T4?
A: Action T4 was a program created by the Nazis in which over 300,000 disabled individuals were killed using lethal injections or poison gas at Hadamar or Hartheim Euthanasia Centres.
Q: Where did Nazi Germany send those considered “inferior”?
A: Those considered “inferior” by Nazi Germany were sent either extermination camps (death camps), where their goal was extermination (killing all) Jewish and Roma peoples in Europe; or concentration camps, where they forced them into slave labor.
