Development of the darkness: Melk is looking for documents for Nazi-Euthanasia!

Development of the darkness: Melk is looking for documents for Nazi-Euthanasia!

Melk, Österreich - Christina Kandler from the Melk contemporary historical center has created an important research project to process “NS-Euthanasia” in the Melk district. The aim of these initiatives is to better understand the dark story associated with the criminalization of mental illnesses and disabilities during National Socialism. On the question of what role local institutions were playing at the time, Kandler says: "We urgently need documents and photos to prepare and make what has happened" 1 .

A tragic figure in this story is Elfriede Knasmüller, who was instructed in 1932 for a suspected mental illness in the Mauer-Höhling Heil and Nursing Institute. After taking over the National Socialists, she had the cruel experience of being transported to the "euthanasia" facility Hartheim. There she died on April 7, 1941 in the gas chamber. Kandler managed to understand their life story with the support of the granddaughter of Knasmüllers and to sensitize how important it is to process these events

research and education

The project "Hartheim & NS-Euthanasia in Oberdonau" project pursues similar goals and deals intensively with the racist and anti-Semitic dimension of the care of people with mental illnesses and disabilities. In this comprehensive study, biographies of persecuted or murdered people are collected and relevant documents are archived and prepared 2 .

goal is not only to document the story, but also to revise the pedagogical offer at the Hartheim Castle and memorial location. In addition, the permanent exhibition "value of life" is redesigned; This place in Austria is a significant testimony to the crimes of the Nazi regime.

joint efforts

The efforts to clarify these crimes are not new. As early as 1983, committed researchers in Germany founded a working group that deals with the Nazi crimes against people considered to be “inferior”. This circle consists of experts from different disciplines, including doctors, historians and educators, and organizes annual conferences to promote research and to have current discussions 3 .

This community effort laid an important foundation for the recognition and compensation of those affected. The results of the work of the working group and the ongoing research projects are crucial for awareness of the events of the Nazi era and its aftermath up to the present.

Anyone who has documents, photos or other relevant information on the topic is welcome to contact Christina Kandler. It is of great importance that we learn from history and make sure that such atrocities do not repeat.