Tatkomplex: NS-Euthanasie, published in the original German, contains all finalized postwar trial judgments rendered by East and West German criminal courts concerning Hitler’s first mass killing campaign. As a result of this so-called mercy killing or euthanasia-program some 200,000 physically and mentally handicapped people were murdered, along with thousands of concentration camp prisoners and foreign workers. This two-volume edition includes the motivated decisions of the East- and West-German criminal courts who tried the men and women involved in this mass murder program. It documents the criminal profiles of these state-sponsored perpetrators and their accomplices, as well as the way in which the courts in both the former East and West Germany interpreted their criminal responsibility. This work is thus an invaluable source for those interested in the study of this particular chapter of Third Reich criminality and the ensuing postwar judicial responses in each of the two Germanies.
Divided over 42 cases, Tatkomplex: NS-Euthanasie documents 74 court judgments against more than 150 defendants tried after the war for their participation in the ‘mercy killing’ program. Together these defendants form a rough cross-section of all those involved in these crimes. Among them were doctors, nurses, administrative and technical staff, as well as several leading functionaries of Hitler’s Chancellery in Berlin, who planned and organized the program. This book describes their biographies, their crimes, their defense and the courts’ evaluation of their actions.
As well as a general index of defendants, court decisions, crime locations and so on, this two-volume set contains a form with which buyers can order a fully searchable PDF-version of the book for research purposes.