Disabled people were among the first victims of the Nazis. What I did not know was that this program of eugenics through murder was very furtive at first. They knew that "do gooders" and "the church" would object to killing disabled people, often children just to save money.
They were careful not to have too many deaths at any one center at first. But as the stress of war created further chaos they become more open about these murders.
Thinking about it, it doesn't make sense that they would be open about doing such a thing. There were people who objected. Those people were called sentimental and unreasonable. And of course the murders would expand.
The killing centers were disguised as care facilities. Sometimes they billed families for months after their relative was dead.
The centers also collected state pensions and social security for months after killing the people sent there for care. So they were very scammy in a way that I don't think we recognize enough in the Nazis, one state sponsored but privatized operation mooching off of public benefits.
That I have heard more about "welfare moms" than this in my life is something to ponder.
Unfortunately I've heard people say that our Stephen Miller could not have such evil ambitions because he is a part of a regime that is too petty and criminal and the nazis were more "ideological"
I think this is a troubling trend where people believe that the nazis were "at least efficient" which is just ingesting their old propaganda uncritically.
I would add that the resistance saved lives. It was risky. Although I wish it had gone much much further. I don't know who was scared to go further and who didn't care.
In the end history will only remember the actions your take, not what is in your heart.
Reading about the sneakiness of Aktion T4 (the murders had started and most people did not know, or looked away if they did)... and then the limited resistance from the church. (But still brave some lost their lives.)
And knowing what came after it just makes this current moment feel very cold. Like we are on a dark road and there isn't any good way to turn back.
But, that's just a feeling. The reality is that there is still time. But this shows how it can be hard.
There is a lesson here I think. Aktion T4 blew up in media after killing about 70,000 disabled people. The German public and the international public were broadly disgusted. Hitler said he would shut down the program. Made a new center that people could visit without any gas chambers. And this sort of worked?
The lesson is you can never trust people who do such things if they say "oh we will stop."
Now we can consider how we might apply this to our lives today.
myrmepropagandist
Emily Stronk 
Wolfgang