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The following research titled “The Precursor 
to the Holocaust: Adolf Hitler’s Economic and  

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Ethnic Persecution of the Disabled Community” 
is an attempt to show the Holocaust began with  

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the genocide, sterilization, and persecution 
of disabled individuals 8 years prior to 1941.  

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This research is presented and narrated by Megan 
Proctor and was overseen by Dr. Darcie Fontaine. 
  

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Adolf Hitler used the idea of economic prosperity 
of the Third Reich as a front to economically  

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persecute the disabled population of Germany. 
Mark Mostert explains that the Third Reich often  

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referred to disabled individuals as “useless 
eaters”. This thought process allowed Hitler  

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to seize necessities from the disabled population. 
As early as 1933, Adolf Hitler was seizing food,  

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space, and life from disabled individuals to make 
the German state, in his terms, more “productive”.  

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A common belief throughout the Third Reich was 
that those with disabilities did not deserve basic  

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necessities because they were unable to work, thus 
making them what Hitler would call a “drain on the  

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economy”. The early economic persecution of the 
Jewish population in Germany during World War II,  

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mimics the mindset that Hitler held 
toward disabled individuals.  
  

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The economic persecution and ableist ideas that 
Adolf Hitler held toward the disabled population  

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directly connects to Hitler’s ideas about the 
Volksgemeinschaft, or the idea of an “ethnically  

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pure state”. Adolf Hitler passed "The Law for the 
Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring" in  

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1933 approximately 7 months after he was appointed 
chancellor of the German state. This law allowed  

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the Third Reich to legally sterilize the disabled 
population in an attempt to keep them from having  

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children. Adolf Hitler believed that the disabled 
population would pass on what he believed were  

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“faulty” genes, creating what he defined as 
a greater “burden” on the economic state.  

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Paul Eggert, seen pictured on the right-hand 
section of this presentation was a victim  

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of Nazi sterilization. He recalls in written 
testimony of his trip to the Nazi “medical office”  

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during his stay in a state psychiatric hospital 
due to an unspecified mental disability.  

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It is important to note here that the 
Nazi standards for what they considered a  

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"disability" were heavily skewed. Eggert may 
or may not be considered mentally disabled  

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in regards to today’s medical specifications. 
 
To conclude, the disabled victims of the Holocaust  

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were the first victims of the mass genocide 
that would in turn affect multiple populations  

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under the control of the Third Reich. As seen on 
the timeline below, the genocide and sterilization  

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of disabled individuals began 6 years before 
the emergence of Jewish ghettos and the start  

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of World War II. The methods and science that 
were used to kill the German disabled population  

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in 1939 through T-4 Program were later used 
in the genocide of Jews and other victims.  

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Hitler did not implement what he referred 
to as the “Final Solution”, or mass genocide  

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of Holocaust victims until 1941. One can 
argue that the Holocaust spanned from 1933,  

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with the emergence of "The Law for the Prevention 
of Genetically Diseased Offspring" which targeted  

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disabled individuals, and concluded on May 8th, 
1945, with the surrender of the Third Reich.