title: [The Borstal of Göttingen and sterilization of adolescents in Nazi Germany].
abstract: The Nazi regime established a law in 1933 that led to approximately 360,000 involuntary sterilizations. This paper explores the application of this law in the Borstal of Göttingen, an institute for "corrective training" of male adolescents. Between the years 1934 and 1941, about 60 adolescents were legally sterilized at this institution - in most cases upon the recommendation of Walter Gerson, a psychiatrist and the institute's Director. The diagnosis was generally "congenital idiocy," a term used to classify boys who were considered to suffer from "psychopathology", antisocial behaviour or "hereditary burdens." In about a third of the cases, the adolescent or his parents attempted to prevent the sterilization, but such attempts were unsuccessful. Even after the war, victims' attempts to become rehabilitated were thwarted - both by the reinstalled Gerson and the justice of Göttingen. It was only in recent years that the financial rehabilitation of the victims was put into practice.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002673:Child, Hospitalized / Q000266:history*; D005858:Germany; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006761:Hospitals / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D028683:National Socialism / Q000266:history*; D013244:Sterilization, Involuntary / Q000266:history*
vernacular_title: Das Provinzial-Erziehungsheim in Göttingen und die praktische Umsetzung des Gesetzes zur Verhütung erbkranken Nachwuchses.