From: jmorris@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca (John Morris) Newsgroups: alt.revisionism Subject: Hartheim (was Re: The Dachau Gas Chamber) Date: Sun, 03 Sep 1995 22:03:54 GMT Organization: University of Alberta Lines: 115 Message-ID: <42d8q4$pjc@rover.ucs.ualberta.ca> NNTP-Posting-Host: lydgate.remote.ualberta.ca Henry Ayrewrote: >"Hartheim" does not appear in the Rand McNalley Universal World Atlas, >nor in the Britannica Atlas, nor in the Encyclopedia Britannica. Has Mr. >McVay again created something out of nothing? H. Ayre. T4 FACILITY C HARTHEIM Hartheim Castle near Linz (now in Austria) was the T4 euthansia facility known as Facility C. Hartheim was opened by May 1940. Hartheim was known as the "Dachau sanatorium" and was greatly feared by Dachau inmates: anyone who fell ill and was sent to recover there simply never returned. Based upon the convoy lists from Gusen and Mathausen, and the list of named Spanish prisoners who died from "unnatural causes" at Hartheim, it is estimated that in excess of 1200 prisoners were "euthanized" by poison gas at Hartheim in 1941 and 1942. In the context of Rascher's request below to begin poison gas experiments on "invalids" sent to Dachau, it seems reasonable to suppose that the "same equipment" he mentions included facilities for homicidal gas chambers such as were used in the euthanasia program at Hartheim. The Nazi euthansia program was based upon neo-Darwinian theories of eugenics which held that society was weakened by the presence of "inferior elements." It was believed that a society could protect itself from "degeneration" only by practicing "racial hygiene." The practice of racial hygiene quite simply meant the euthanizing of "inferior elements." A partial definition of "inferior elements" may be seen in the registration forms that the Reich Interior Ministry sent in October 1939 to every hospice and asylum in Germany. Group 1 included "all patients suffering from schizophrenia, epilepsy, senile diseases. therapy resistant paralysis and other syphilitic sequelae, feeble-mindedness from any cause, encephalitis, Huntington's disease and other neurological conditions of a terminal nature." Group 2 included "all patients who have been continuously institutionalized for at least five years." Group 3 included "all patients who are in custody as criminally insane, foreigners, and all those falling under National Socialist race legislation." I would draw particular attention to Group 3 because it contains patients whose conditions might not be terminal or incurable but who were defined as "defective" strictly because of their race, in general, because they were Jews. The Nazis went to considerable lengths to conceal the euthansia program. The supposed sanitoriums were kept under tight security and were inaccessible to the families of "patients." A variety of form letters, including diseases with *specific* complications, were set up for notifying families that "patients" had died. In some facilities, officials kept records of the numbers euthanized. If too many from one original location were killed, officials were careful to alter the dates of death and the dates of notification so that the deaths would not be connected by the folks back home. Lastly, I should note that Hitler's written order establishing the euthanasia program has been preserved. A variety of methods for killing "patients" were tried including injections of phenol directly into their hearts. The most effective method by far was poisoning with carbon monoxide gas. In addition, "patients" were used as lab animals for a variety of cruel medical experiments. Some pictures of the results of similar experiments carried out at Dachau and elsewhere may be viewed at Franz Schmitz' web site in Belgium at http://modb.oce.ulg.ac.be/schmitz/holocaust.html Portions of the voluminous correspondence between the experimenters and Himmler's office are collated with photographs of the experiments mentioned in the doctors' letters at Robert Bennet's excellent L'Chaim: A Holocaust Web Project web site at http://www.charm.net/~rbennett/l'chaim.html In connection with Hartheim, Dr. Sigmund Rascher at Dachau requested permission from Himmler to begin poison gas experiments on "invalids" who would otherwise be sent to Hartheim: Wie Sie wissen, wird im KL Dachau dieselbe Einricht[ung] wie in Linz gebaut. Nachdem die "Invalidentransporte" sowieso in bestimmten Kammern enden, frage ich, ob nicht in diesen Kammern an der sowieso dazu bestimmten Personen die Wirkung unserer verschiedenen Kampfgase erprobt werden kann? Bis jetzt liegen nur Tierversuche bezw. Berichte ueber Unfaelle bei Herrstellung dieser Gase vor. Wegen dieses Absatzes schicke ich den Brief als "Geheimsache." [As you know, the very same equipment is in the concentration camp at Dachau as was used at Linz [Hartheim]. Whereas the "invalid transports" end up in certain chambers [at Linz] anyway, I ask whether we cannot test some of our various combat gases on specific persons who are involved in the action. Up till now there have only been animal tests or accounts of accidental deaths in the manufacture of these gases. Because of this paragraph, I have sent this letter marked "Secret"]. --from Dr. Sigmund Rascher to Reichsfuehrer Himmler, 9 August 1942. Courtesy of the Bundesarchiv, Koblenz. My translation of this portion of the letter was made from a photocopy of the original provided to me by Danny Keren. Aside from the Rascher's letter, see Eugen Kogon, et al., _Nazi Mass Murder: A Documentary History of the Use of Poison Gas_ (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993). -- John Morris at University of Alberta ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Nizkor Project: An Electronic Holocaust Resource File archives - ftp://ftp.almanac.bc.ca Web page - http://nizkor.almanac.bc.ca
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