title: ["Euthanasia" operation by Nazis on patients with psychiatric or hereditary diseases, and Bishop von Galen of Münster].
abstract: In so-called "euthanasia" operations, Nazis murdered patients with psychiatric or hereditary diseases in large numbers. Psychiatric patients in Germany were sent to six institutions, where they were deprived of their lives in gas chambers. In his sermon delivered on 3rd August, 1941, at St Lambert's Church in Münster, Bishop von Galen of Münster intensely condemned this cruel operation in public. Quoting the fifth commandment, "Thou shall not kill", he said it was sinful to kill innocent people on account of their unproductiveness. By the influence of this brave sermon, Hitler had to order the closure of the institutions, though the "euthanasia" operation itself was secretly continued.
mesh_terms: D003209:Concentration Camps / Q000266:history*; D005065:Euthanasia / Q000266:history*; D013502:General Surgery / Q000266:history*; D030342:Genetic Diseases, Inborn / Q000266:history*; D005858:Germany; D049673:History, 20th Century; D017767:Holocaust / Q000266:history*; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000266:history*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000266:history*; D028683:National Socialism / Q000266:history*; D010361:Patients / Q000266:history*; D012068:Religion and Medicine