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Wuerttemberg Evangelical Provincial Church 19 July 1940. The Provincial Bishop.
To the Reich Minister of the Interior Dr. Frick.
Berlin NW.
Koenigsplatz 6.
Dear Reich Minister,
For some months past, insane, feeble-minded and epileptic patients of state and private medical establishments have been transferred to another institution on the orders of the Reich Defence Council. Their relatives, even when the patient was kept at their cost, are not informed of the transfer until after it had taken place. Mostly they are informed a few weeks later that the patient concerned had died of an illness, and that, owing to the danger of infection, the body had had to be cremated. On a superficial estimate several hundred patients from institutions in Wuerttemberg alone must have met their death in this way, among them war-wounded of the Great War.
Owing to numerous inquiries from town and country and from the most variegated circles, I consider it my duty to point out to the Reich Government that this affair is causing a particular stir in our small province. Firstly because one of the institutions concerned, Grafeneck castle, to which the patients are delivered and where a crematorium and registrar's office have been set up, is in Wuerttemberg. Grafeneck is the property of an institution of the "Inner Mission,'' the Samaritan Foundation, which for years has been taking in and looking after persons who are physically or mentally maimed. On the outbreak of war, it was transferred to the convent of Reutte in Upper Swabia on the order of the Wuerttemberg Ministry of the Interior; Grafeneck was intended for the reception of patients brought from other institutions. The castle lies on a height of the Swabian Alb in a sparsely populated
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forest district. With all the more attention does the population of the surrounding area follow the events that take place there. The transports of sick persons who are unloaded at the small railway station of Marbach a.L., the buses with opaque windows which bring sick persons from more distant railway stations or directly from the institutions, the smoke which rises from the crematorium and which can be noticed even from a considerable distance—all this gives all the more rise to speculation as no one is allowed into the castle.
The second reason why grave importance is attached to these things in Wuerttemberg is the fact that symptoms of degeneration are not rare even in mentally and morally high-ranking families in our small province. It is partly the consequences of marriages between relations, connected with the long seclusion of the province, that are noticeable here. A comparatively large number of families from the cultured class also is thus affected by the measures directed towards annihilation which are being taken against patients of institutions.
The manner of action is already sharply criticised in these circles; there is much talk, in particular, of deceptions which occur in this connection. Everybody is convinced that the causes of deaths which are published officially are selected at random. When, to crown everything, regret is expressed in the obituary notice that all endeavors to preserve the patient's life were in vain, this is felt as a mockery. But it is, above all, the air of mystery which gives rise to the thought that something is happening that is contrary to justice and ethics and cannot therefore be defended by the Government with full publicity like other necessary and severe war measures. This point is continually stressed —by simple people as well—in the numerous written and oral statements which come to us. It also appears that very little care was taken, at first at any rate, in the selection of the patients destined for annihilation. They did not limit themselves to insane persons, but included also persons capable of work, especially among the epileptics. - '
The most important thing seems to me, however, that the Reich Government should appreciate the fundamental objections which have been raised among our people from humane and religious motives against this action, and should not consider the present ill-humour as a disregard of national and political necessities. I would therefore request permission to deal in greater detail with the problem of annihilation: I myself formerly had, as a subsidiary duty, the care of souls at a state sanatorium and nursing
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home and am therefore not unacquainted with the conditions and problems which arise in this connection.
Naturally, everybody who sees such pitiful men, thinks over and over again "Would it not be better to put an end to such an existence? It has no value for itself and means a heavy burden on the relatives." When the consequences of the blockade made themselves felt during the Great War and many patients died of tuberculosis and other illnesses fostered by malnutrition—the number of funerals which I had to hold amounted normally to about 20, but increased to 50 in 1917—everybody accepted this as a natural consequence of the war and as a divine ordinance, and one could be thankful in many cases that the end had come. It is, however, quite a different matter to take steps to bring about this end through human intervention. Many patients are conscious of their existence and position to a much greater extent than healthy people assume; in many cases, when one believes that they have not heard or have not understood, words addressed to them, it transpires afterwards that they have in fact done so, but were not able to react as a healthy person would have reacted. Many are distinctly sensitive as to whether they are treated lovingly or roughly by their doctor and nurse. Now put yourself into the mental position of a patient who draws the conclusion from all sorts of signs that something is to happen to him, who, maybe, is even subjected to force in order to make him board the transport—and you will be convinced that this is wrong, as God's will is interfered with and human dignity violated thereby. The decision as to when the life of a human sufferer should be terminated rests with Almighty God, according to whose inscrutable decision a completely healthy and valuable man is taken away before his time in one case, and an incapacitated man languishes on for decades in another. I can well understand that, in view of these and of many other facts which cannot be explained rationally, many people reject belief in God and adopt a creed of blind fate in its place; but I cannot understand that a party which implicitly rejects atheism and which has selected and introduced the term "believers *in God" for those outside the Christian faith, should approve of and carry out a violation of God's sovereign right, as is the case in the treatment of the patients of the institutions. The Fuehrer has only recently called for prayer for the fighting troops and for humble thanksgiving for the glorious victory over France; can we not also entrust the lives of our suffering compatriots to this God, and is it not his will that we look after them while he lets them live ?
Here I come to the second reason why the sensibilities of our
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people take offence at these measures. Pre-Christian Antiquity already laid down the principle: res sacra miser, the unfortunate person is a holy thing. Christianity has always made it its duty to look after the sick and suffering, because of Him, of whom it is said: He bore our sickness and took our pains upon Himself. As opposed to the roughness of primitive paganism, man was treated as a human being and not as an animal. The progresses in the field of medicine were utilised for mental patients as well in the institutions of the Christian labour of love. And it is actually specialists in institutions of the Inner Mission and in state institutions who have made considerable progress. I have often admired the conscientiousness and patience of institution psychiatrists who, while showing a much smaller percentage of successful cures as compared to other doctors, nevertheless treat every patient as something of value entrusted to them. How hard it must be for these men to allow and to defend measures contrary to the whole tradition of their profession, that are directed towards the opposite of the humane attitude which, in addition to scientific accuracy, forms the honour and dignity of the medical profession!
Perhaps, however, I shall receive the reply: the hundreds of thousands of physically and mentally incapacitated persons are too heavy a burden economically and financially for the German people who have now undertaken such big tasks; the relatives must make their sacrifices, as the families of those killed at the front have made much heavier sacrifices! Against this one must say that a people fights for its existence, and that no one is too good to risk his life in this battle for existence—that we may accept as God's will and commandment, that, however, the weak and defenseless should be destroyed, not because they represent a danger to us, but because we are tired of feeding them and caring for them—that is contrary to God's commandment. Do we not praise our soldiers because, when they have done their duty against the armed enemy, they mercifully look after the unarmed, especially women, children, wounded and sick, and do not consider them burdens which they thus impose on themselves and the nation. It would indeed be possible to entertain the thought: we have no reason to spare an inimical nation which has done us as much harm as the French'. But this thought would be worty of a Clemenceau, not of a German.
It is no doubt very painful for the parents if among their children there is one who is mentally deficient; but they will let this child feel their whole love as long as God allows it to live; contrary treatment, which of course does occur also, is condemned by
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public sentiment. Why? Because our people are guided by the Christian way of thought in all these questions. And as the Party stands implicitly on the basis of a "positive Christianity" and as, again, it implicitly and especially wishes the ethical attitude of the Christian, above all the love of one's neighbor, to be understood under this "positive Christianity," it really cannot approve the measures directed to destroy life. We therefore find it quite understandable that those circles of the Party whose voices can be heard chiefly on the "Schwarze Korps" wish to do away not only with church Christianity but with all Christianity because it represents an obstacle to such measures. They thus confirm the old and. frequent experience that a break with the Christian faith also carries with it a break with Christian ethics. But anyhow, the Fuehrer and the Party have so far stood on the platform of positive Christianity which regards charity towards suffering compatriots and their humane treatment as a matter of course. If, however, a serious matter like the care of hundreds of thousands of suffering compatriots in need of care is dealt with solely from the point of view of momentary advantage and if a brutal extermination of these compatriots is decided on, then the final stroke is added to a fateful development and Christanity is given its final conge as a vital power determining the individual and communal life of the German people. But paragraph 24 of the Party program is then also untenable. The claim that only confessional Christianity, not Christianity in itself, is being fought against, is inoperative here; for all confessions are agreed that man and nation have to bear as a burden imposed by God the burden imposed on them by the presence of people who are in need of care and may not eliminate these people by killing them.
It is only with honour that I can think that things will continue as they have begun. The possible advantage of these measures will be more and more outweighed, the longer they go on, by the damage they will cause. What conclusion will the young generation draw for private life, when it realizes that human life is no longer sacred to the State? Cannot every outrage be excused on the grounds that the elimination of another was of advantage to the person concerned? There can be no stopping once one starts down this slope. God does not permit people to mock Him; he can turn what we believe we have gained on one side to harm and a curse on the other. Either the National Socialist State also must recognise the limits which God has laid down for it, or it will favour a moral decline which will also carry with it the decline of the State.
l ean imagine, Mr. Minister, that this protest will be regarded
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as embarrassing. Hardly dare I express the hope, either, that.my voice will be heard. If, nevertheless, I have made this declaration, d have done so primarily because the relations of the compatriots affected expect such action from the leaders of a church. I am also, however, moved by the thought that this action may perhaps give rise to a serious examination and to the abandonment of this path. Dixi et salvari animam meam!
Heil Hitler!
Yours faithfully, [Signed] Dr. WURM.
Wuerttemberg Evangelical Provincial Church.
The Provincial Bishop.
Stuttgart, 23rd August 1940.
To Reich Minister of Justice, Gr. Guertner,
BERLIN. .
Dear Reich Minister of Justice,
Much comment has been aroused by the measures—directed at the elimination of lives of no value to the community^—which are being carried out at the moment on a large scale in certain state institutions, especially in Wuerttemberg, in Castle Grafeneck, village of Dapfen, Muensingen district. I have therefore directed the letter of which I enclose a copy to the Reich Minister of the Interior. I request you, Mr. Reich Minister of Justice, to interest yourself, from your sphere of work, in this matter, which, if continued in the present manner contrary to the legal measures for the protection of the eugenic health of the German people, must shatter the people's confidence in justice as much as their trust in the doctor as a helper of men.
Heil Hitler! Yours sincerely, [signed] D. Wurm.
Stuttgart, the town of the Germans abroad
5 September 1940
Wuerttemberg Evangelical Provincial Church The Provincial Bishop
COPY
To the Reich Minister of the Interior Dr. Frick BERLIN.
Dear Reich Minister,
On the 19th July I sent you a letter about the systematic exter-
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mination of lunatics, feeble-minded and epileptic persons. Since then this practice has reached tremendous proportions: recently the inmates of old-age homes have also been included. The-basis for this practice seems to be the opinion that in an efficient nation there should be no room for weak and frail people. It is evident from the many reports which we are receiving that the people's feelings are being badly hurt by the measures ordered and that a feeling of legal insecurity is spreading which is regrettable from the point of view of national and state interests. If the leadership of the state is convinced that it is a question of an inevitable war measure, why does it not issue a decree with legal force, which would at least have this good point that official quarters would not have to seek refuge in lies ? But if—as can be assumed with certainty—Germany is in a position to feed these members of the nation as well, why then these rigorous steps ? Is it necessary that the German nation should be the first civilised nation to return, in the treatment of weak people, to the habits of primitive races? Does the Fuehrer know about this matter? Has he approved it ? I beg you not to leave me without a reply in this tremendously serious matter.
Heil Hitler Yours faithfully [signed] Dr. Wurm
Wuerttemberg Evangelical Provincial Church The Provincial Bishop.
Stuttgart, the town of the Germans abroad, the 6th September 1940.
To the Reich Minister of Justice Dr. Guertner BERLIN W Wilhelmstr. 65 Dear Reich Minister,
Permit me to inform you of a second letter which I have sent to the Reich Minister of the Interior about the systematic extermination of lunatics, weak and frail compatriots. This matter is reaching the proportions of a great danger and a scandal. Dear Reich Minister, I would be very grateful if you would give me the opportunity to give you a more detailed account and to show you documents concerning this matter, next Wednesday the 11th September. Please inform Dean Keppler, Berlin, N.W.87, Holsteiner Ufer 16, Tel. 392950, if md when the reception is possible.
Heil Hitler Yours faithfully, [signed] Dr. Wurm
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Most obediently
To the Minister [Guertner]
According to order, I informed Dean Keppler by telephone on the 10th September that hospitals and nursing homes come under the Reich Minister of the Interior and that it is therefore recommended that the Provincial Bishop present his wishes first to the Minister of the Interior.
Dean Keppler promised to inform the Provincial Bishop accordingly.
BERLIN, the 11th of September 1940 [signed] Sommer
Letter to Frick on the euthanasia program in Wuerttemberg, popular concerns about the killings and deceptive notices, and moral and religious objections; and follow-up letters to Frick and Guertner
Authors
Theophil Wurm (Dr., Bishop of Wuerttemberg, Stuttgart)
Theophil Wurm
German Lutheran bishop (1868-1953)
- Born: 1868-12-07 (Basel)
- Died: 1953-01-28 (Stuttgart)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: pastor; politician; resistance fighter; theologian
- Participant in: Nuremberg Medical Trial (date: 1947-01-31; role: affiant)
- Employer: Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg
- VIAF ID: https://viaf.org/viaf/72187296
- ISNI: https://isni.org/isni/0000000082623383
Sommer (Justice Ministry, Berlin (1940))
Sommer
- Additional details not yet available.
Date: 19 July 1940
Defendant: Wilhelm Frick
Total Pages: 8
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: M-152
Citation: IMT (page 12872)
HLSL Item No.: 453419
Notes:Items: Wurm's letters to Frick, 19 July and 5 September; to Guertner, 23 August and 6 September; Sommer note to Guertner, 11 September 1940. This document was entered as UK exhibit 530.