Euthanasia Memorial

From the BBC:
"Germany memorial for Nazi 'euthanasia' victims"

Work has begun on a memorial in Germany for the 300,000 people murdered by the Nazis for having mental and physical disabilities or chronic illnesses. A 30m (100ft) long glass wall is being built in the centre of Berlin, near the former site of the Nazi-era office that organised the "euthanasia" programme. In 1939, Adolf Hitler told officials that people "considered incurable" should be "granted a mercy killing".  The programme ended officially in 1941, but continued covertly until 1945. At first, personnel killed people by starvation and lethal injection. They later used gas chambers at killing centres in Germany and Austria. The programme, also known as Action T4, is considered a precursor to the Holocaust, during which millions of Jews were killed. On Monday, Germany's State Minister for Culture, Bernd Neumann, said educating people about the Nazis' crimes and honouring their victims remained an obligation for the country. In recent years, memorials have been constructed in Berlin for Jewish, Roma (Gypsy) and homosexual victims of the Nazis.

 

^ It is important to remember all the victims of the Nazis. There were numerous groups of people singled out by the Germans for extermination before and during the war because they did not fit the new Aryan Master Race ideology. I spent 4 summers working at an overnight summer camp for the mentally and physically disabled as a counselor. Before working at the camp (the word camp here while talking about the Nazis doesn't go pass me, but here I mean summer camp) I didn't really pay much attention to those with any sort of disability. I saw them a few times in school as they walked the hall to their special classes and heard others make fun of them. I decided to work at the summer camp to both learn more about the disabled and to test myself - to see if I was cut out for the work. In the end, while the work was extremely hard (even in my 4th summer) it was a lot of fun getting to know the campers. For the most part the campers were more down-to earth and kinder than "regular" people. I now have a new found respect for the physically and mentally disabled and their caregivers and believe that the disability laws around the US and the world need to be enforced more so that everyone is given a fair chance in life. The Nazis may be more known for their cruelty towards the disabled, but many places around the world (including the US) conducted experiments and other horrendous things on the disabled before, during and after the Nazis. I wonder if anyone will make a memorial to all of them around the world. ^

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23234296