Comparison of the Holocaust to Eugenics of Mental Disorders
Comparing the Holocaust to Eugenics of Mental
Disorders
While reading about the Holocaust in
greater depth for class I was reminded of something I had recently learned in
my Abnormal Psychology class. While we were reading about the Holocaust in our
class I was learning about the history of mental illness in abnormal psychology.
We were touching upon the fact that in the past mental illness was seen as
something evil and was not wanted in society. These people were shunned away
and put into institutions keeping them from those deemed as “normal”. There was
a eugenics movement starting in Connecticut and spreading to the rest of the
U.S. in which people with mental illnesses were prohibited from certain things
such as marriage so that they would not be able to reproduce offspring with a similar
mental disorder. There were even laws created to make sure that this was prohibited.
In the abnormal psychology book it mentioned how the Nazi’s used “proper gasses”
to kill those with mental disorders, making the Holocaust a key part in attempting
to eliminate mental disorders from spreading.
In a way I view the Holocaust as a
very similar eugenics movement as the one of people with mental disorders. The
Nazi’s were attempting to kill off as many Jews as they could because they wanted
to keep the Aryan race the superior one and didn’t want to be exposed to any
abnormalities and illnesses in which they blamed certain groups such as the
Jews for. Simply for the fact that they were different the Jews were being
killed and brought to camps to work their lives a way. This is similar to the
eugenics movement relating to mental disorders because these people were viewed
as different and the rest of society didn’t want to be exposed to these
illnesses. They restricted those with mental disorders from doing certain
things which any other human can do such as getting married. The Nazi’s seemed
to have similar views on mental illness as I read that they initiated forced sterilizations
of the hereditary ill and carried out euthanasia on around 200,000 mentally and
physically disabled Germans. They wanted to make sure they were protected from
these disorders because they wanted to be superior and couldn’t afford any
mental or physical disorders within their group.
You can also go on to compare the
mental institutions to the concentration camps that were being controlled by
the Nazi’s. Though they may seem completely different, both of these places
were places where people were treated absolutely horrible. The mental
institutions were not a great place to be, the patients were treated awfully by
staff. The institutions were completely crowded and essentially just turned
into prisons for the mentally ill, they were not receiving proper treatments
and the recovery rates were very low. Essentially it was just a place were they
shoved all the mentally ill in order to keep them away from others. This is
similar to the concentration camps in which the Jews and other groups were
being thrown into. They were forced to be there and were forced to work and do
things that they did not want to participate in. There was a separation of
families and plenty of killings during this time. The Nazi’s treated the Jews horribly,
and these camps were a place where they could have control over them. Again, essentially
it was just a prison for the inferior group or the group seen as “abnormal”
because they were different than the rest of the population. Just a place where
they could be controlled and kept away from the others in society.
Both of these movements were those
of eugenics, trying to eliminate something from a population to make it as
superior as it could be. The Nazi’s were a key part in attempting to eliminate
those with mental disorders from the population, though they did go to extreme
measures to do so. Both of these movements lead to innocent people being
treated horribly even though they did nothing wrong. The Holocaust was an
extreme form of eugenics but you can definitely compare it to the one of the
mentally ill that happened in the past, and that is what I thought of when I
was learning about this topic in my abnormal psychology class.
Works Cited
“Documenting Numbers of Victims of the
Holocaust and Nazi Persecution.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10008193.
Holocaust | Nazi Motives for Genocide, www.projetaladin.org/holocaust/en/history-of-the-holocaust-shoah/the-killing-machine/why-did-nazi-germany-end-up-killing-millions-of-jews.html.
Cassie,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some interesting points in this! I think a common perception that people have of America is that we are very righteous and good, however, you touch upon some reasons why we aren't. For instance, after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt established isolated camps to place people of Japanese decent. The conditions of the camps were not of the same magnitude as the concentration camps in Germany but you can see that same connection. Comparing the mental institutions and the idea of eugenics in America with the state of eugenics in Germany were very eye-opening and thought-provoking. Great job!
Good post Cassie! This is a very important topic and I don't think many people realize that the mentally ill and those with disabilities were also targeted during the Holocaust and before by the Nazi Party's beliefs. This is an interesting connection to the mental institutions and how they serve some of the same purposes. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Cassie, I found your post very interesting and was happy to further read about something we touched upon in class. I find it ironic that America's eugenics program basically inspired Germany to start their own, and that Germany treated those in the program the same way America treated various groups throughout history. I think that you evidence a pattern throughout history, that most people rather than trying to understand someone else, simply judge them or isolate them without putting in much effort.
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