Virtual Exhibit:
The Nazi Eugenic Legislation and Propaganda
Reichsgesetzblatt. 1933. Vol. 1, pt. 1, 529–31. Berlin: Reich Ministry of the Interior. Accessed via Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. https://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=dra&datum=1933&size=45&page=126. Translation in Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression. Vol. 5, 880–83. Washington, DC: Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality.
USHMM, trans. Adolf Hitler’s Authorization Letter for the Euthanasia Program. Photograph. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. College Park, MD, January 2014. College Park, https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa15074.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, trans. Propaganda for the Nazi Euthanasia Program. n.d. Photograph.
Reich Propaganda Ministry. “Propaganda Slide From Nazi Euthanasia Program.” United States holocaust Memorial Museum. Accessed April 30, 2026. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/photo/propaganda-slide-for-the-nazi-euthanasia-program.
Bytwerk, Randall. “German Propaganda Archive.” Nazi Eugenics Exhibitions, 1933. https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/volkundrasse1936-8.htm.
Morys-Twarowski, Michael. “Doktor Heinrich Gross. Od Sali Śmierci Do Sal Wykładowych.” CiekawostkiHistoryczne.pl, March 2, 2026. https://ciekawostkihistoryczne.pl/2016/01/16/mordowal-setki-dzieci-i-kroil-ich-mozgi-dlaczego-swiat-pozwolil-by-na-zbrodniach-zbudowal-oszalamiajaca-kariere/.
Proctor, Robert N. Nazi Propaganda Poster. Photograph. Military Medical Ethics 2. Vol. 2. U.S. Army. Office of The Surgeon General. Borden Institute, 2
Sharav, Vera. “‘am Spiegelgrund’ in Vienna"Special Children’s Ward" 1940–1945.” Nazi Medical Atrocities, October 28, 2016. https://ahrp.org/1940-1945-special-childrens-ward/.
Herta Schreiber at Am Spiegelgrund. 1941. Photograph. https://www.cerveauetpsycho.fr/sd/histoire-psychiatrie/asperger-pediatre-au-service-des-nazis-19931.php .
The Wiener Holocaust Library. “Science and Suffering: Victims and Perpetrators of Nazi Human Experimentation.” Online Exhibition, 2021. https://wienerholocaustlibrary.org/exhibition/science-and-suffering-victims-and-perpetrators-of-nazi-human-experimentation/.
National fund of the republic of Austria for victims of national socialism, and Renate S. Meissner. Lives remembered: Life stories of victims of National Socialism. National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism, 2010
Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring, 1933
This law required physicians to preform invloluntary sterilizations to those with ceritian conditions. This legislation laid the preliminary framework for the Aktion T4 “euthanasia” program and the Holocaust.
Adolf Hitler’s Authorization Letter for the Euthanasia Program, 1939
“The text of the letter states that "Reichsleiter [Philipp] Bouhler and Dr. med. [Karl] Brandt are charged with responsibility to broaden the authority of certain doctors to the extent that [persons] suffering from illnesses judged to be incurable may, after a humane, most careful assessment of their condition, be granted a mercy death. [signed] Adolf Hitler.” (Translation courtesy of the United States Holocaust Museum)
Nazi Sterilization Program Propaganda
Propaganda poster which translates to “...because God cannot want the sick and ailing to reproduce.”
Propaganda Slide From Nazi Euthanasia Program, date unknown
This text on this ableist propaganda slide translates to “Life without hope”.
Nazi Propaganda of Disabled Children, 1933
This propaganda depicts disabled children next to the Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring. According to Calvin University, the title’s translation is “Sterilization is liberation, not a punishment”, followed by the caption “Who would want to be responsible for this?”.
Early Eugenics Propaganda Poster, 1933
Nazi propaganda depicting a German man carrying two disabled people on his shoulders. The poster portrays the disabled as a physical and financial burden on healthy Germans. The title’s translation says, "You Are Sharing the Load! A Hereditarily Ill Person Costs 50,000 Reichsmarks on Average up to the Age of Sixty."
Doctor Heinrich Gross, date unknown
Dr. Heinrich Gross was an Austrian physician at the Am Spiegelgrund killing center. He tortured and killed disabled children during inhumane medical experiments, and kept over four hundred slides of his victims’ brain tissue for over fifty years. Gross never served time for his crimes and died a free man in 2005.
The “Special Children’s Ward” at Am Spiegel Killing Center, 1940
This image depicts the ward where child euthanasia occured at Am Spiegelgrund.
Herta Schreiber at Spiegelgrund, 1941
Herta Schreiber, age three, was admitted to Spiegelgrund on July 1, 1941. She was referred to Spiegelgrund by Austrian pediatrician, Dr. Hans Aspererger. Asperger wrote in his referral, “Severe personality disorder. [...] Permanent accommodation at the Spiegelgrund site seems absolutely necessary”. Herta died three months after her admission to Spiegelgrund.
Brain Specimens of Child “Euthanasia” Victims Found at Am Spiegelgrund Killing Center
These specimines were discovered in the late 1990s and later buried in 2002.
Rudolf Karger at the Am Spiegelgrund Memorial, 2010
Rudolf Karger was a child survivor of Am Spiegelgrund, which was a part of the T4 program. Karger is photographed at the memorial to the children who were killed at Spiegelgrund, which opened in 2002 following the discovery of victim remains and the failed prosecution of Dr. Heinrich Gross.