8/3/2019 The T4 Program- Holocaust Research Paper

1/3

Dan Li

Li 1

Mrs. Quick

Honors English I

5/23/11

The T4 Program: A Precursor to the Holocaust

Most people know of one of the greatest if not the greatest tragedy

of the 20th century: The Holocaust. Yet, many are not familiar with its

deadly predecessor, known as the T4 Program for the its operation

center Tiergarten 4. Operating from 1939-1945, this program was

designed to grant handicapped individuals a merciful death and to

lessen spending on hospitals and care for special patients. By its end

however, Nazi doctors had become berserk and were killing anyone

they saw fit. With its organization, goals, controlled first phase, and

wild second phase, the T4 Program demonstrates the ruthlessness and

callous nature that became a hallmark of the Nazi Party (Lifton).

Outline

Paragraph II- Starting in October of 1939, Hitler began to enact the

necessary measures to get the euthanasia program underwayWith

its organization, Hitler had started working towards his ultimate goal,

to kill all those he deemed a disgrace or undeserving of life. Source-

(Berenbaum).

8/3/2019 The T4 Program- Holocaust Research Paper

2/3

Paragraph III- Hitler planned to use the T4 Program as a method of

cleansing the German population of undesirablesWhile the goals of

the T4 Program may seem

Li 2

sinister, the first phase which lasted from late 1939 to 1941 was very

specific in its selection of targets and did not begin mass murders until

late 1940 and 1941.

Sources- (Berenbaum) and (Euthanasia Program).

Paragraph IV- The first phase of the T4 Program lasted two years and

focused mainly on infants in its beginningBy the time the first phase

had ended, German doctors had lost all discretion for the killing of

humans which led to the covert but more lethal second phase from

1942 to Germanys downfall in 1945.

Sources- (Euthanasia Program) and (Lifton).

Paragraph V- The second phase of the T4 Program, which ran at the

same time of the Holocaust, showed no control over who was to be

killed from patients with actual crippling diseases to the random

undesiriable who gave a doctor the wrong lookBy its end, the whole

T4 Program had in German records killed 70,000 humans, but in

8/3/2019 The T4 Program- Holocaust Research Paper

3/3

realistic historian evaluations the number was judged to be around

200,000. Sources-(Lifton) and (Berenbaum)

Paragraph VI- A deadly harbinger of the Holocaust, the T4 Program was

one of Hitlers first steps towards the final solution.In conclusion, of

the many things that are known of the hated Nazi Party and Adolf

Hitler, the T4 Program does not receive the amount of attention that a

murder operation that killed 200,000 innocents should.