T4 Program

Imagine being forced into a room with a hundred others that you don’t know; you are all of different race, religions and economic backgrounds. Now suddenly you are being told to undress and shower. After the shower you are now being sent to the next room still naked and wet. People around you begin to panic, others cry, you just stand there confused in the middle of the chaos. Everything gets quiet when you hear footsteps above you, you see a quick glimpse of light then the room quickly fills with the Zyklon B-gas that the Nazi Army just dropped into the room. People around you are now trying to dig their way out while ripping off fingernails and scratching into the walls, some are huddled in corners with their family members or their children simply begging for the end to come quickly for them. At this moment you now understand their panic and painful pleas for the end. As your breathing begins to weaken and your body is ready to collapse you ask yourself, “How did I get here, How did any of us get here?” You are standing there waiting for the end because of the T4 Program created by Adolf Hitler and these are the experiences that thousands had to face when they were forced into the extermination camps.

The T4 Program; also known as the T4 Euthanasia Program, was created to help rid Germany of anyone that was considered to be undesirable according to the Nazi Army that was at that time ran by Adolf Hitler. Hitler had his own views on the people he wanted Germany to contain and some just didn’t match what he thought was appropriate for the “master race.” The program began in 1939, at this time it was focused towards specific groups. The group they first tested the program on was anyone that was considered handicapped physically ...

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...s, however, varied a bit. They would both line them up and shoot them in the back of the head so they would fall forward into the mass grave or undesirables would be forced to dig their own grave then be shot to fall into it (Vogelsang and Larson).

Works Cited

"Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia Timeline." Leading Issues Timelines. 2013. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 26 March 2014.

Berenbaum, Michael. "T4 Program." Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Web. 21 March, 2014.

Bergen, Doris. “Nazi Ideology and the Camp System.” PBS, 2004-2005. Web. 26 March 2014.

"Eva Braun." Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Web. 26 March, 2014.

Gies, Miep. “Interview Transcript: Miep Gies.” Scholastic, 2014. Web. 23 March 2014.

Vogelsang, Paul and Brian B. M. Larson. “Methods of Mass Murder.” The Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. 2002. Web. 23 March 2009.