The Nazi Connection
If you go even deeper into Euthanasia's history, be prepared to stumble across a Nazi closetful of skeletons. Yes, Euthanasia also has an infamous past.
The story begins about a decade before the start of the 2nd World War, when German doctors guided by a truly compassionate gesture towards patients suffering incurable illnesses began to administer Euthanasia. Sanctioned by law, the practice was slowly extended to people whom the institution thought of as being ideologically and racially unwanted as well those who were considered worthless in society. Later, this was applied to all non-Germans.
The chilling result of this was the Nazi holocaust in which as many as 6 million Jews, apart from other unwanted minorities, were massacred. Around 4 million of who met with their death in extermination camps like Auschwitz, Majdanek and Sobibor. After the war, the World Medical Association, in response to the Nazi Euthanasia policy, included in the International Code of Medical Ethics the following wording: 'a doctor must always bear in mind the obligation of preserving human life from the time of conception until death'.
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