文摘
In Austria, euthanasia by the Nazis (National Socialists, NS) has been increasingly discussed in the psychiatric setting throughout the country in different ways in recent years, although there seem to be significant regional differences. During the time of the NS, mass murders were performed under the euphemistic term “euthanasia” or “mercy killing”. The action was also known as the destruction of life unworthy of life, called NS medical murders. The background and fundamentals of the so-called NS euthanasia are the NS ideology and the unconstitutional NS regime with its executors in a society forced to be obedient. Action T4 is a term that became common after 1945 for the systematic murder of more than 70,000 people with mental and physical disabilities in 1940–1941 during the time of the NS in Germany. [The systematic murder of “unworthy life” was further used in other organization forms (decentral medical murders) until the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht and the dissolution of the Third Reich.] The inpatient institutions – in particular, medical and nursing homes – were asked to report using standardized reporting forms all patients with the diagnosis schizophrenia, epilepsy, senile dementia, progressive palsy, type of craziness, encephalitis, Huntington's or other neurological “end states” and extended stays as well as mentally sick lawbreakers. Keywords NS euthanasia in Austria Austrian T4 experts Decentral NS euthanasia Significance of NS euthanasia in Austrian psychiatry today