So as many of you know, I am in New York City, studying at
CUNY (City University of New York) in their Graduate Disability Studies
Program. One of the courses I am taking is Psychosocial, Cultural and Political
Aspects of Disability. This past week, we read a lot about the Eugenics
movement in America and how that influenced the Holocaust. I made the mistake
of reading all the readings in one day and quickly discovered that if one
wanted to, they could fall in love with Vodka this way. I didn’t but it just
goes to show that someone could. Below is my response to a few questions asked
by the teacher:
Question 3: How did the Eugenic
movement in America set the precedent and serve as the foundation for the Nazi
Holocaust?
The opening sentence of chapter 13
of The War Against the Weak by Edwin Black, begins: “Murder was always
an option” (Black, 2013) This was certainly the case in the Eugenics movement.
From lethal chambers, institutions (such as the one in Lincoln, Illinois) that
exposed inmates to fatal illnesses, doctors withholding lifesaving treatment
for “defective” babies, to movie propaganda like The Black Stork, the
collective mood was uprooting and purging the “defectives,” be they child or
adult. An example of this is seen in a 1917 advertisement for The Black
Stork: "Kill Defectives, Save the Nation and See 'The Black
Stork."'49 (Black, 2013). No one who was disabled was safe in America.
Hitler would study these underpinnings while he was in jail, pouring over
textbooks that would quote Eugenic hero, Charles Davenport among others like
Madison Grant, who wrote The Passing of the Great Race. The Eugenics
movement in America was the prologue to the Holocaust, the greatest tragedy in
human history.
Question 4: Share your own personal feelings about
the readings on Eugenics in America and the Holocaust.
It is beyond heartbreaking to learn
through very detailed readings that America’s hands were already stained in the
blood of innocents, whose only crime was being misunderstood and unwanted by
society. The Eugenics movement began with the intent of the betterment of the
human race but took a hideous turn when it was used to control and to destroy
those deemed “unworthy of life.” This included the poor and those considered
“degenerate.” The movement proved that no one who was different was safe and
the actions in America would propel a German to take these ideas to the most
extreme. Anyone who was not perfect by strict standards set forth would be
killed without mercy. That could most likely include those who had minor
disabilities like me, a person with a speech impediment; because anyone who
could not breathe correctly and had trouble speaking from time to time was
obviously not sane and therefore must be put to death for the betterment of the
state! It makes me feel ashamed to see how low humans can sink,
even in this country, the land of the free.
A few classmates of mine encouraged me to get angry and not
ashamed. I don’t find it hard to do both
