| “LIFE UNWORTHY OF LIFE”: THE
GENETIC CURE |
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any method or procedure.”5
That anarchic situation prevailed at hospitals that had been emptied of mental
patients by the original killing. The general disorganization was such that few
became hospitals for soldiers or war injured — the original stated intent;
and in the case of other emptied hospitals, used for schools and offices of
various kinds, there were conflicting claims of possession by different groups.
The general impression was that whatever facilities were gained by eliminating
mental patients contributed relatively little to the Reich and its war effort.
The regime was apparently more skillful and systematic in setting up conditions
for killing than it was in utilizing the buildings that were emptied. Moreover,
the dismantling of the killing centers was far from complete, and many
“euthanasia” personnel expected gassing to resume when the war was
over. The chambers at Bernburg, Sonnenstein, and Hartheim remained ready for
operation when so ordered.6
“Special Diet”
Starvation as a method of killing was a logical extension of the
frequent imagery of mental patients as useless eaters. As a passive means of
death it was one more element of general neglect. In many places, mentally ill
patients had already been fed insufficiently and the idea of not nourishing
them was “in the air.” Moreover, the establishment of a new central
accounting office clearly decreased the money available to the
institutions.7 (The decrease in heating in
winter had similar causes and effects.) Dr. Pfannmüller was responding
radically to such a mood when he instituted his method of starving children to
death at Eglfing-Haar. In 1943, he would establish two Hungerhaüser
(“starvation houses”) for an older population.
On 17 November
1942, the Bavarian Interior Ministry held a conference with directors from
mental hospitals throughout that area. The state commissioner for health,
Walter Schultze, asked the directors to provide a “special diet”
(Sonderkost) for hopelessly ill patients. Because several doctors were
hesitant about this idea it was suggested that a ministerial proclamation to
that effect would be useful. Not at all hesitant was Dr. Pfannmüller, who
“dramatically . . . told how he had once grabbed a slice of bread from a
nurse who had wanted to give it to a patient.” (Pfannmüller had been
involved in the decision to hold the 1942 conference.) Also involved was the
director of the Kaufbeuren Asylum, Dr. Valentin Faltlhauser, who had directed
the child “euthanasia” program there and had also served as a T4
expert since 1940. Faltlhauser passed around the Kaufbeuren menu: “totally
fat-free,” it consisted of potatoes, yellow turnips and cabbage (usually
green, occasionally red) cooked in water. 'The effect,” he claimed,
“should be a slow death, which should ensue in about three
months.”8
The directive followed
on 30 November, supported, it was claimed, by orders from Berlin. “In view
of the war-related food situation and the |
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