1939

Initiation of child euthanasia program in Nazi Germany, following request of parents of Gerhard Kretschmar, a severely deformed infant, that the infant be euthanized. Appeal was made directly to Hitler, and was carried out on July 25 by one of his personal physicians, Karl Brandt. It was followed by the first phase of the T-4 (located at Tiergartenstrasse) program, which euthanized ca 275,000 children and adults between October 1939 and August 194. Between 5,000 and 10,000 youths were killed in the child euthanasia program between 1939 and 1945. Hans Heinze, star student of Paul Schröder, established Nazi’s first child killing center at his State Institute Görden in Brandenburg in 1939 (Sheffer, 100-101).