Kornmarkt, bus station
The "Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring" was passed as early as 1933. It permitted the forced sterilization of people who were disabled or ill and did not conform to National Socialist racial ideals.
In autumn 1939, Hitler wrote an informal, secret letter in which he decreed: "[...] that, according to human judgement, the terminally ill may be granted mercy killing if their state of illness is assessed critically." The murders of the sick, which were disguised as war-related "transfers", began in the Reich at the beginning of 1940 in Brandenburg.
By the summer of 1941, over 70,000 patients had been transferred from sanatoriums and nursing homes to six killing centers and murdered with carbon monoxide gas. The cover name "Aktion T4" is derived from the address of the Berlin euthanasia center at Tiergartenstraße 4 in Berlin. After protests from the population - in particular the courageous sermon by Bishop von Galen from Münster - the campaign was ended in the summer of 1941.
18 men and women from Wolfenbüttel, who were housed in the Königslutter institution, also died in this way in the Bernburg killing facility in 1941. Their names and biographical data can be found in Susanne Weihmann's book "Die Landes-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Königslutter und der Krankenmord", published in 2020.
In fact, however, although the killings of the sick were no longer centrally controlled, they were continued in a different way. It is currently assumed that by the end of the war, around 300,000 patients had lost their lives through gas, medication and food deprivation.
As little personal information is known, the fate of those murdered can only be commemorated here with a photo of one of the originally red transport buses with Reichspost license plates. The later grey color was an air-raid paint, the windows were glued for camouflage.
The "Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring" was passed as early as 1933. It permitted the forced sterilization of people who were disabled or ill and did not conform to National Socialist racial ideals.
In autumn 1939, Hitler wrote an informal, secret letter in which he decreed: "[...] that, according to human judgement, the terminally ill may be granted mercy killing if their state of illness is assessed critically." The murders of the sick, which were disguised as war-related "transfers", began in the Reich at the beginning of 1940 in Brandenburg.
By the summer of 1941, over 70,000 patients had been transferred from sanatoriums and nursing homes to six killing centers and murdered with carbon monoxide gas. The cover name "Aktion T4" is derived from the address of the Berlin euthanasia center at Tiergartenstraße 4 in Berlin. After protests from the population - in particular the courageous sermon by Bishop von Galen from Münster - the campaign was ended in the summer of 1941.
18 men and women from Wolfenbüttel, who were housed in the Königslutter institution, also died in this way in the Bernburg killing facility in 1941. Their names and biographical data can be found in Susanne Weihmann's book "Die Landes-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Königslutter und der Krankenmord", published in 2020.
In fact, however, although the killings of the sick were no longer centrally controlled, they were continued in a different way. It is currently assumed that by the end of the war, around 300,000 patients had lost their lives through gas, medication and food deprivation.
As little personal information is known, the fate of those murdered can only be commemorated here with a photo of one of the originally red transport buses with Reichspost license plates. The later grey color was an air-raid paint, the windows were glued for camouflage.
Good to know
Eligibility
for individual guests
Pet allowed
for Children of the age of 10 upwards
Payment Options
free of charge
Contact person
Stadt Wolfenbüttel / Abteilung 412
Ms. Lena Simon
Löwentor, Löwenstraße 1
38300 Wolfenbüttel
Author
Lessingstadt Wolfenbüttel
Stadtmarkt 3-6
38300 Wolfenbüttel
Organization
Lessingstadt Wolfenbüttel
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