Detailed site of the Nazi machine and the Children of the Holocaust. http://auschwitz.dk/Auschwitz.htm
These are some other links that may be useful: Read the rest here: October 1939 - Nazis Begin Euthanasia on Sick and Disabled Aktion T4 Hartheim Castle Memorial Site near Linz, Austria (Schloss Hartheim) Hartheim Schloss: In 1942, a total of 3,166 civilian prisoners were transported to this place, situated near Linz in Austria, just over the German border,and there put to death by gassing. They were classified as 'unfit to work'. Hartheim was the only prison from which there were no survivors. Used in the SS Euthanasia Programme, around 10,000 mentally retarded and crippled children were murdered here. Five such establishments were set up in Germany, including the infamous Hadamar Psychiatric Clinic. Since the Programme began in 1939, a total of 70,273 mentally retarded people were murdered in these centers. Today, the Schloss has been converted into flats housing for 22 families.The only reminder of the terrible events that took place here is a large plaque on the wall of the entrance hall.
Thank you for posting Spidge .... HARTHEIM SCHLOSS Built in 1600, it was once used as an Institute for the mentally handicapped under the protection of the sisters of the Order of St Vincent of Paul. Taken over by the Nazi regime in 1938/39 it was turned into a Euthanasia Centre. In 1942, a total of 3,166 civilian prisoners from Dachau and Mauthausen were transported to this place, situated just over the German border near Linz in Austria and there put to death by gassing. They were classified as 'unfit to work'. Schloss Hartheim, under the administration of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp, was the only prison from which there were no survivors. Used in the SS Euthanasia Programme, 18,269 mentally retarded and crippled children were murdered here. Their bodies were then cremated and the ashes spread over the waters of the Danube and Traun rivers. Five such establishments were set up in Germany, including the infamous Hadamar Psychiatric Clinic in Hessen-Nassau where between 40 and 70 patients arrived daily and where 476 Polish and Russian nationals were put to death within days of their arrival. Since the program began in 1939, a total of 72,424 mentally retarded people were murdered in these centres. A total of 772 children from Vienna were put to death and their brains preserved in glass jars. Around 80 persons were employed at Hartheim encouraged by extra pay and a good alcohol allowance. The director of the program was psychiatrist, Dr. Rudolf Lonauer, of Linz, who committed suicide by poison in May, 1945. After the war, the Schloss (Castle) was converted into flats housing 22 families. In 1999, the families were moved and the Schloss refurbished and opened as a Memorial Site and Holocaust Learning Centre for students and the public. In the spring of 1939, the "Reich Committee for Scientific Research of Hereditary and Severe Constitutional Diseases" was set up. Headed by SS-Obergruppenführer Philipp Bouhler, it operated out of his headquarters at Tiergartenstrasse 4, in Berlin, hence its code name T-4. From all over Germany, deformed children, incurably sick and mentally retarded patients were transported from their hospitals and institutions to the euthanasia killing centres of which there were six, (Brandenburg, Grafeneck, Hadamar, Hartheim, Sonnenstein and Bernberg). At these centres the patients were put to death individually, usually by injection. Later, to speed up the process, cyanide gas, known as Zyklon B, was used. At Hartheim, carbon-monoxide gas was the method used. In November, 1942, 1,200 German political prisoners were taken from Mauthausen and transported to Bernberg and put to death by gassing. Documents discovered after the war listed 70,273 deaths at these six centres. The first centre to be so equipped was Brandenburg in late 1939. The procedure was for groups of twenty or thirty to be ushered into a room camouflaged as a shower room into which gas piping had been laid. The equipment to operate the gas was located outside and operated by the doctor on duty. When the euthanasia program wound down in late 1941, the gassing equipment in these centres was dismantled and transferred to the concentration camps of Belize, Majdenek and Treblinka in Poland in preparation for the forthcoming 'Final Solution' of the Jewish question. It is estimated that between 200 and 250 thousand persons were murdered under the T-4 program. 1940 May The gassing of patients takes place for the first time in the euthanasia institution of Hartheim Castle near Linz. The killing institution is headed by the psychiatrist Rudolf Lonauer from Linz and his deputy Georg Renno (from Strasbourg). Hauptmann and SS Obersturmführer Christian Wirth (from Stuttgart) plays the role of office leader and personnel and security chief ("manager"). He is supported by two Austrians, SS- and Polizeiführer Franz Reichleitner and Franz Stangl (starting in November). Gedenkstätte Steinhof: 8.2 Rudolf Lonauer Mauthausen Memorial Mauthausen Memorial Mauthausen Memorial
