Zwangssterilisationen und Paientenmorde im Regierungsbezirk Trier 1933-1945

From the outset, the National Socialist regime made the implementation of a systematic population policy based on principles of racial hygiene and racial anthropology one of its primary objectives. The "Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring" of July 14, 1933, paved the way for the systematic forced sterilization of individuals diagnosed with—or even merely reasonably suspected of having—hereditary conditions. The law mandated the establishment of specialized courts and a formal application process involving various groups—including the individuals concerned, their relatives, guardians, and medical professionals—who encountered the diseases or symptoms listed in the statute. Alongside the hereditary health courts, the newly created public health offices played a pivotal role in this procedure.

Ultimately, the law established the legal framework for a practice of forced sterilization that was comprehensive in scope and frequently exceeded the law's own limits by aggressively exploiting its provisions. The total number of victims of this practice is estimated at between 350,000 and 400,000 people. In the view of National Socialist health policymakers, this negative eugenic measure was a crucial component of the regime's broader racial policy.

In contrast, the murder of institutionalized patients—deemed to have forfeited their right to life due to illness or disability—took place between 1939 and 1945 without any legal basis whatsoever; it marked the first systematic measure of the regime's racially motivated murder program. The killing of these individuals—primarily patients in hospitals and psychiatric or long-term care institutions—was centrally planned and executed by the secret "T4" agency within Main Office II of the Führer's Chancellery. The murder campaign labeled "euthanasia"—officially halted in August 1941—continued in a decentralized manner within institutions until the end of the war, making it possible to only estimate the total number of victims. Furthermore, as part of the regime's policy of conquest and occupation during World War II, these murderous operations were extended to the occupied territories.

"Racial hygiene"—conceived as a comprehensive medical and population-policy concept—served as the guiding principle and plausible justification for many of those involved: physicians, jurists, nursing staff, employees of health facilities and state or Party administrations, as well as the families of victims and observers of these National Socialist crimes. Altering the "national body" (or *Volkskörper*) of the German population—viewed as a gene pool—through measures of negative eugenics and racial segregation (facilitated by the Nuremberg Laws of 1935) was a central tenet of the National Socialist worldview. It became a key element in ideologically influencing the public through systematic training (within health professions, for Party members, and in schools) and through corresponding propaganda in the press, on the radio, and in film. The German public’s reaction was by no means characterized by rejection, as eugenics had been discussed—and in some cases advocated—even within Christian churches prior to 1933. Despite this propaganda, however, the regime did not dare to publicly take the step of murdering patients in 1939. Nevertheless, reservations and fundamental opposition to these measures on the part of the Catholic Church had accompanied the implementation of forced sterilizations as early as 1934. The moral ambivalence of contemporaries regarding these racial hygiene measures is also evident in the fact that, even after 1945, the 1933 law was by no means classified as "National Socialist," and victims of forced sterilization were denied restitution.

While the broad outlines of these events—briefly sketched here—are known at the national level, the regional historical analysis of this central chapter of National Socialist crimes remains a current task for contemporary historical research. It is only within the last decade that archival collections have been examined and made accessible, enabling the writing of a comprehensive history of these events.

A regional historical study of this kind is now to be conducted for the Trier area. The research project will focus on the key measures of National Socialist racial hygiene. The area selected for study is the former Trier administrative district (*Regierungsbezirk*), which also served as the jurisdiction for the Trier Hereditary Health Court. The inclusion of patient murders associated with the so-called "Action T4" will likewise be addressed within this regional framework, while also taking into account the specific local connections of the institutions in the study area that were affected or involved.

The first research objective is a comprehensive analysis of sterilization practices in the former Trier administrative district, tracing the process from the initial application to the medical procedure itself. From the perspective of individual history, the study examines the applicants, the affected individuals, and the lawyers and medical professionals involved; from an organizational perspective, it investigates the procedures within the hospitals where sterilizations were performed (district hospitals in Saarburg and Wittlich, the municipal hospital in Baumholder, and the Protestant Elisabeth Hospital in Trier). Finally, it explores public reactions—ranging from resistance to support—as well as the responses of those directly or indirectly affected, while using specific examples to examine the overall consequences for the victims.

The second research objective is a comprehensive analysis of the patient murders carried out in the region as part of the "Aktion T4" program. Here, too, the aim is to identify the victims and the individuals involved locally, clarify the regional implementation of the extermination program, and examine instances of active cooperation versus refusal to participate or efforts to protect patients at risk.

Thirdly, the study examines the accompanying "racial hygiene" propaganda and indoctrination efforts employed by the Nazi regime in the region. Given the high proportion of Catholics and the dense network of Catholic organizations in the Trier administrative district, the regime’s racial hygiene policies required significant propaganda efforts to overcome reservations and resistance regarding its population policies—or to foster passive acceptance—within this predominantly Catholic region.

The availability of source material for the project can generally be considered good. Although a complete record has not survived for either the legal practice of forced sterilization or the illegal "T4" murder program—due to the loss and deliberate destruction of files—there is nonetheless a sufficiently dense body of documentation available for the three areas of investigation.

However, the gaps in the records held by the various participating agencies and authorities necessitate an examination of the files from all involved institutions in order to obtain a comprehensive picture.

The specific research initiative is to be carried out as a doctoral project, supplemented by individual studies conducted as part of Master's theses. The project is led by Prof. Dr. Lutz Raphael and Dr. Thomas Grotum. Both contribute distinct expertise based on their own research into the murder of patients, Auschwitz and the Nazi camp system, and the regional history of the Nazi regime (including local victims of the regime and the Gestapo in Trier and Luxembourg). The project researcher is Mr. Matthias Klein, who completed his Master's-level studies (*Magister*) in History and Catholic Theology in March 2013 and had already conducted research on the regional history of the Nazi regime for his thesis. Michael Brämer is currently writing his Master's thesis on the subject of "Forced Sterilization of Prison Inmates: The Case of Wittlich Prison."

To ensure the successful implementation of this project, an advisory board has been established, comprising representatives from the institutions supporting the project. The members of the advisory board are:

• Förderverein zur historischen Erforschung von Zwangssterilisationen in der Region Trier während der NS-Zeit e.V.
  • Ms. Barbara Weiter-Matysiak, Head of the Trier-Saarburg District Archives
  • Mr. Rudolf Müller, Trier-Saarburg District Administration 
• Barmherzige Brüder Trier gGmbH
  • Prof. Dr. Albert-Peter Rethmann
  • Mr. Markus Leineweber / Ms. Anne Britten
• Landeshauptarchiv Koblenz
  • Dr. Jörg Pawelletz / Dr. Beate Dorfey
• Bezirksärztekammer Trier
  • Dr. Günther Matheis
• Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Trier
  • Mr. Georg-Friedrich Lütticken

The spokesperson for the advisory board is Dr. Günther Matheis.

• Matthias Klein
  NS-"Rassenhygiene" im Raum Trier - Ein Projektbericht
  Dokumentationszentrum der Gedenkstätte SS-Sonderlager/KZ Hinzert, May 12, 2014
  (Conference "Die Gestapo Trier in der Christophstraße 1. Justiz und Polizei im regionalen Umfeld während der NS-Zeit")
   
• Renate Rosenau
  Die "Rheinland-Bastarde". Der Weg der nationalsozialistischen Rassenpolitik in die Illegalität
  Bezirksärztekammer Trier, Balduinstraße 10-14, November 20. 2014
  (Lecture series "Medizin im Nationalsozialismus")
• Matthias Klein
  NS-"Rassenhygiene" im Raum Trier. Die Zwangssterilisation von Kindern und Jugendlichen des St. Josephsheims in Föhren
  Stadtmuseum Simeonstift Trier, Simeonstr. 60, December 13. 2015, 11:30 Uhr
  (Vortragsreihe "Gestapo in Trier 1933-1945")
   
• Matthias Klein
  Zwangssterilisationen und Patientenmorde im Raum Trier
  Gedenkstätte SS-Sonderlager/KZ Hinzert, An der Gedenkstätte, 554421 Hinzert-Pölert, November 10. 2016, 18:30 Uhr
   
• Matthias Klein
  Galen und Gesundheitsamt - Ein Flugblatt und seine Folgen
  Akademie Vogelsang IP, Vogelsang 70, 53937 Schleiden, December 10. 2016, 10:20 Uhr (Colloquium of the Universities of Bonn and Trier: Neue Arbeiten zur NS-Zeit im Rheinland)
   
• Christoph Braß
  Zwangssterilisation und Euthanasie im 3. Reich am Beispiel des Saarlandes
  Bezirksärztekammer Trier, Balduinstraße 10-14, November 16. 2017, 17:00 Uhr
   
• Matthias Klein
  „NS-Rassenhygiene“ im Raum Trier
  Volkshochschule Trier, Domfreihof 1b, 54290 Trier, 8. Januar 2018, 19:00 Uhr (Lecture as part of the exhibition opening "Die nationalsozialistischen 'Euthanasie'-Morde" ["Tiergartenstraße 4"])
   
• Matthias Klein
  Das Gesetz zur Verhütung erbkranken Nachwuchses und die Kontrolle der weiblichen Fortpflanzung zur Zeit des Nationalsozialismus 
  Neue Uni, Universitätsplatz 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Hörsaal 14, 12. Juli 2018, 19:00 Uhr (Lecture as part of the exhibition opening "Kontrolle" des Interdisziplinären Forums Heidelberg)

Article in Trierischen Volksfreund vom 3. Juni 2014.
Article in Unijournal 3/2014 (S. 28-31).

Article Michaela Hocke und Jörg Pawelletz in Unsere Archive 59 (2014), p. 35-39.
Artikel in the Trierischer Volksfreund from March 18. 2019, p. 1
Topic of the Day in the Trierischer Volksfreund from March 18. 2019, p. 3
Article in the Rathaus-Zeitung from  April 9. 2019 über das Projekt "NS-'Rassenhygiene' im Raum Trier" (p. 7).

The project management relies on support to carry out the project. Core funding for the first half of the project was secured through the Förderverein zur historischen Erforschung der Zwangssterilisationen im Raum Trier während der NS-Zeit e.V. and Barmherzige Brüder Trier gGmbH. Additional sponsors are warmly welcome.

Prof. Dr. Lutz Raphael / Dr. Thomas Grotum / Matthias Klein

Project "NS-»Rassenhygiene« im Raum Trier"
Modern and Contemporary History
University of Trier
Universitätsring 15
D-54286 Trier

The project room is located in the B-wing of the DM building (DM 248).

From November 16 to 18, 2018, the research project hosted the autumn conference of the Working Group on Research into National Socialist "Euthanasia" and Forced Sterilizations in Trier. Geographically, the focus was on the former southern Rhine Province and the Mannheim area. Another thematic focus was placed on Catholic institutions.

The conference took place at the Hotel Deutscher Hof in Trier. (www.hotel-deutscher-hof.de).