Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring (german: Gesetz zur Verhütung erbkranken Nachwuchses) or "Sterilisation Law" was a statute in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

enacted on July 14, 1933, (and made active in January 1934) which allowed the

compulsory sterilisation Compulsory sterilization, also known as forced or coerced sterilization, is a government-mandated program to involuntarily sterilize a specific group of people. Sterilization removes a person's capacity to reproduce, and is usually done throug ...

of any citizen who in the opinion of a " Genetic Health Court" () suffered from a list of alleged

genetic disorders A genetic disorder is a health problem caused by one or more abnormalities in the genome. It can be caused by a mutation in a single gene (monogenic) or multiple genes (polygenic) or by a chromosomal abnormality. Although polygenic disorde ...

– many of which were not, in fact, genetic. The elaborate interpretive commentary on the law was written by three dominant figures in the

racial hygiene The term racial hygiene was used to describe an approach to eugenics in the early 20th century, which found its most extensive implementation in Nazi Germany (Nazi eugenics). It was marked by efforts to avoid miscegenation, analogous to an animal ...

movement:

Ernst Rüdin Ernst Rüdin (19 April 1874 – 22 October 1952) was a Swiss-born German psychiatrist, geneticist, eugenicist and Nazi, rising to prominence under Emil Kraepelin and assuming the directorship at the German Institute for Psychiatric Resea ...

, and the lawyer . While it has close resemblances with the American

Model Eugenical Sterilization Law The Virginia Sterilization Act of 1924 was a U.S. state law in Virginia for the sterilization of institutionalized persons "afflicted with hereditary forms of insanity that are recurrent, idiocy, imbecility, feeble-mindedness or epilepsy”. It ...

developed by

Harry H. Laughlin Harry Hamilton Laughlin (March 11, 1880 – January 26, 1943) was an American educator and eugenicist. He served as the superintendent of the Eugenics Record Office from its inception in 1910 to its closure in 1939, and was among the most a ...

, the law itself was initially drafted in 1932, at the end of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a Constitutional republic, constitutional federal republic for the first time in ...

period, by a committee led by the Prussian health board.

Operation of the law

The basic provisions of the 1933 law stated that: The law applied to anyone in the general population, making its scope significantly larger than the compulsory sterilisation laws in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, which generally were only applicable on people in

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociat ...

s or prisons. The 1933 law created a large number of " Genetic Health Courts" (german: Erbgesundheitsgericht, links=no, EGG), consisting of a judge, a medical officer, and medical practitioner, which "shall decide at its own discretion after considering the results of the whole proceedings and the evidence tendered". If the court decided that the person in question was to be sterilised, the decision could be appealed to the "

Higher Genetic Health Court The Hereditary Health Court (german: Erbgesundheitsgericht, EGG), also known as the Genetic Health Court, was a court that decided whether people should be forcibly sterilized in Nazi Germany. That method of using courts to make decisions on heredi ...

" (german: Erbgesundheitsobergericht, links=no, EGOG). If the appeal failed, the sterilization was to be carried out, with the law specifying that "the use of force is permissible". The law also required that people seeking voluntary sterilizations also go through the courts. There were three amendments by 1935, most making minor adjustments to how the statute operated or clarifying bureaucratic aspects (such as who paid for the operations). The most significant changes allowed the Higher Court to renounce a patient's right to appeal, and to fine physicians who did not report patients who they knew would qualify for sterilisation under the law. The law also enforced sterilization on the so-called "

Rhineland bastard Rhineland Bastard (german: Rheinlandbastard) was a derogatory term used in Nazi Germany to describe Afro-Germans, believed fathered by French Army personnel of African descent who were stationed in the Rhineland during its occupation by France a ...

s," the mixed-race children of German civilians and

French Africa French Africa includes all the historic holdings of France on the African continent. Françafrique French North Africa * Egypt (1798-1801) * French Algeria (1830–1962) * Protectorate of Tunisia (1881–1956) * Protectorate in Morocco (1 ...

n soldiers who helped occupy the Rhineland. At the time of its enaction, the German government pointed to the success of sterilisation laws elsewhere, especially the work in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

documented by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

eugenicists

E. S. Gosney Ezra Seymour Gosney (November 6, 1855 – September 14, 1942) was an American philanthropist and eugenicist. In 1928 he founded the Human Betterment Foundation (HBF) in Pasadena, California, with the stated aim "to foster and aid constructive and ...

and

Paul Popenoe Paul Bowman Popenoe (October 16, 1888 – June 19, 1979) was an American agricultural explorer and eugenicist. He was an influential advocate of the compulsory sterilization of mentally ill people and people with mental disabilities, and the fa ...

, as evidence of the humaneness and efficacy of such laws. Eugenicists abroad admired the German law for its legal and ideological clarity. Popenoe himself wrote that "the German law is well drawn and, in form, may be considered better than the sterilization laws of most American states", and trusted in the German government's "conservative, sympathetic, and intelligent administration" of the law, praising the "scientific leadership" of the Nazis. The German mathematician

Otfrid Mittmann Otfrid Mittmann (27 December 1908 in Ruda Śląska — 1998)Record
and ...

defended the law against "unfavorable judgements". In the first year of the law's operation, 1934, 84,600 cases were brought to Genetic Health Courts, with 62,400 forced sterilisations.

IBM and the Holocaust ''IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation'' is a book by investigative journalist and historian Edwin Black which documents the strategic technology services rendered by US-base ...

Edwin Black Edwin Black (born February 27, 1950) is an American historian and author, as well as a syndicated columnist, investigative journalist, and weekly talk show host on The Edwin Black Show. He specializes in human rights, the historical interplay b ...

, 2001 Crown / Random House, pg 96. He cites Henry Friendlander, The Origins of Nazi Genocide: From Euthanasia to the Final Solution, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1995, p 35 Nearly 4,000 people appealed against the decisions of sterilisation authorities; 3,559 of the appeals failed. In 1935, it was 88,100 trials and 71,700 sterilizations. By the end of the Nazi regime, over 200 "Genetic Health Courts" were created, and under their rulings over 400,000 people were sterilized against their will.Robert Proctor,
Racial Hygiene: Medicine Under the Nazis
' (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988): 108. Via Google Books. Along with the law,

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

personally decriminalised abortion in case of fetuses having racial or hereditary defects for doctors, while the abortion of healthy "pure" German, "Aryan" unborn remained strictly forbidden.Henry Friedlander,
The Origins of Nazi Genocide: From Euthanasia to the Final Solution
' (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of Northern Carolina Press, 1995): 30. Via Google Books.

Notes

External links

"Eugenics in Germany : 'The Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring'"
article from ''Facing History and Ourselves'' * United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The Biological State: Nazi Racial Hygiene, 1933-1939
{{Authority control 1933 establishments in Germany 1933 in law Law in Nazi Germany Nazi eugenics Race and intelligence controversy Racial antisemitism Scientific racism Compulsory sterilization

Operation of the law

See also

Notes

External links