Chapter 7 Summary and Analysis

In 1937, young Karl Schnibbe took a field trip to a mental hospital in Hamburg with his class. The class was told by the teacher that the mentally ill were a resource drain on Germany and that they did not deserve to live. This was part of an effort on the part of Nazis to convince people that physically and mentally "unfit" people should be euthanized. Physically and mentally ill people interfered with Nazi attempts to create the perfect master race. Nazis started by sterilizing these types of people, and that evolved into mass murder.

The euthanasia, or "mercy death" program began in late 1939. People in mental hospitals or hospices could be killed in order to save the country money and help fund the war effort. A panel would decide the life or death fate of people in these hospitals. This program...