Hi Mike,

They may have been largely German, but they did not fit the Nazi
concept of Aryanism. The precursor to the murder of these disabled
was the program of enforced sterilisation, which perhaps gives a
clearer pointer of the part played by Eugenics.

It is but a small step from permitting medical intervention to
protect the gene pool, to remove the "problem" entirely. The economic
argument "Drain on resources" surfaced later (early 40's) when the
German economy was starting to creak under the demands put on it, the
first case of "euthanasia" was 1937 (I think).

When viewed with the fate of Gypsies, Slavs, Jews, it just seems to
me that the Eugenics argument covers the disabled group as well. So,
in a "tabloid" sense, it can be viewed as "Ethnic Cleansing".

Cheers

Deri

On Tuesday 24 April 2001  2:22 am, Michael H. Collis wrote:
> Deri, most of the persons w/ disabilities being "cleansed" were
> Germans and aleeady instutionalised   How does that make it "Ethnic
> Cleansing?" If anything, it shows that the  persons w/ disabilities
> were seen as economic liabilities then to the Nazi's and therefore
> were "killed" fot the goal of good economic convenience...   "Mercy
> killing" for mercy's sake may be okay, but I have a real struggle
> with those who say my life is less convenient than someone else's
> and therefore I must be done away with for the good of the
> country's economy...
>
> Deri James wrote:
> > It is a mistake to term the Nazis slaughter of the disabled as
> > "Euthanasia", it has far more in common wth Ethnic Cleansing.
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Deri