Nazi eugenics were a set of beliefs and rules that were very important to Nazi Germany during World War II. These beliefs said that the Aryan race was the master race – the best race of all – and all other races were inferior (not as good). There were also many other people who the Nazis believed were "life unworthy of life," like people with disabilities. These ideas about eugenics were at the center of the Nazis' beliefs and eventually helped lead to the Holocaust.[1][2]
Because they did not want these "inferior" people in German society, the Nazis decided to get rid of them, using many different strategies. They began with people with disabilities. The Nazis forced more than 400,000 people with disabilities to be sterilized (to have surgery that would make it impossible for them to have children).[3] They also killed over 300,000 people with disabilities in a program called Action T4.[3][4][5] In this program, the Nazis sent people with disabilities to places like Hadamar [2] and Hartheim[6] Euthanasia Centres to be killed. These people were killed with lethal injections and poison gas, in vans and gas chambers at the Euthanasia Centres.[2]
Using what they learned by killing people with disabilities, the Nazis soon built extermination camps (death camps). The Nazis' goal was to use these death camps to exterminate (kill all of) the Jewish and Roma people in Europe.[6] The Nazis also sent many other people who they thought were inferior to the death camps and to concentration camps, where they were forced to work as slaves.[7]