Did Germans oppose Hitler's eugenics programs?

Nazism was “applied biology,” stated Hitler deputy Rudolf Hess. During the Third Reich, a politically extreme, antisemitic variation of eugenics determined the course of state policy. read more

The T4 program hit a sensitive nerve in the German public. If one was not a member of a condemned ethnic group or a vocal opponent of the regime, there was some safety in Germany. The T4 program showed that the Nazi regime could reach beyond proscribed categories. read more

The final, most drastic phase of the Nazi eugenics program was euthanasia. Killing the unhealthy to protect public health had been proposed as early as 1920, by two German writers: psychiatrist Alfred Hoche and philosopher Karl Binding. read more

Hitler studied American eugenics laws. He tried to legitimize his anti-Semitism by medicalizing it, and wrapping it in the more palatable pseudoscientific facade of eugenics. Hitler was able to recruit more followers among reasonable Germans by claiming that science was on his side. read more