Abortion, Poland and Hitler

[Michael_Forrest]

I had read in the past that abortion was illegal in Nazi Germany and that Hitler opposed abortion. I am reading recently, however, that this is not entirely accurate. Apparently, abortion was legal, although Hitler personally opposed it for “Aryans” because he wanted to increase the “Aryan” population as much as possible (for “superior race purity”, etc.). And it also seems that Hitler was very much pro-abortion (in all senses of the term) for non-Aryans, in countries like Poland.

I’m looking at the issue from the standpoint of the relationship between forms of government and impact upon social justice issues, like abortion. But it’s also interesting and informative because people on both sides of the abortion debate have referenced Hitler.

These links are interesting, I think.

opposingviews.com/i/it-was-hitler-who-brought-abortion-to-poland-warning-graphic-photo

constitutionalistnc.tripod.com/hitler-leftist/id15.html

opposingviews.com/i/hitler-abortion-billboard-causing-international-controversy-graphic-image

abortionfacts.com/online_books/love_them_both/why_cant_we_love_them_both_25.asp#But%20didn%92t%20Hitler%20oppose%20abortion?

To be clear - I don’t intend to advance the “Hitler argument” fallacy (i.e. because Hitler did it, it must be bad).

 

[edwest2]

The idea of sterilizing “defective” persons was first advanced in the United States and spread to Europe. Unless someone can provide accurate information, it would appear that a policy toward the lower races or uentermensch had the goal of classifying and eventually elimnating certain racial groups and “defectives.” I have never seen data regarding abortions for the time period in question. A German newsreel from the period shows a doctor using calipers to measure parts of the head of one of the lower peoples. There were “scientific” charts drawn up that “scientifically” defined the physical characteristics of these people.

The idea was to only allow the superior racial groups to breed and prevent births by the sickly or mentally defective or those classed as imbeciles. Certain racial and ethnic groups were simply judged inferior.

Currently, in Poland, the Polish Peasants’ Party is against Poland joing the European Union. Far from being a relatively simple economic pact, they would have to agree to allow abortion as part of the “deal.” Of course, they are against it.

God bless,
Ed

 

[vera_dicere]

The massacre at Lidice has documented cases of the pregnant women being “aborted” before being sent to the death camps.

Pregnant women were sent straight to the gas on arrival at most camps.

There’s some info here about the Lidice forced abortions:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidice

Hitler was a sick monster, the fact he is responsible for over 6 million deaths seems to kind of moot any opinion he has for or against abortion.

 

[Chris0711]

If you want a picture of medical social justice issues under Hitler research the infamous Nazi physicians Joseph Mengele and Carl Clauberg to name a couple. You will find the reasons behind their medical experiments. Be warned reading to much of that material will make you want to cry.

I have found it interesting to research the medical practices that occur under extreme forms of government. Look into almost any totalitarian state and you will find some sort of medical manipulation. What you find is that in most cases medical experimentation or such things as abortion etc. are practiced as a means of control or advancing an agenda. I am appalled that people who call themselves physicians are able to commit such unethical acts and I truly wonder how they rationalize to themselves. I understand that advances are made through experimentation, but medical ethics must be considered. ALWAYS!

 

[Michael_Forrest]

If you want a picture of medical social justice issues under Hitler research the infamous Nazi physicians Joseph Mengele and Carl Clauberg to name a couple. You will find the reasons behind their medical experiments. Be warned reading to much of that material will make you want to cry.

I have found it interesting to research the medical practices that occur under extreme forms of government. Look into almost any totalitarian state and you will find some sort of medical manipulation. What you find is that in most cases medical experimentation or such things as abortion etc. are practiced as a means of control or advancing an agenda. I am appalled that people who call themselves physicians are able to commit such unethical acts and I truly wonder how they rationalize to themselves. I understand that advances are made through experimentation, but medical ethics must be considered. ALWAYS!

I agree. China is a recent case in point. They’ve been executing members of religions they oppose - like Falun Gong, Catholicism and others - and then selling the body parts for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/27/chinese-accused-of-vast-trade-in-organs/

 

[Michael_Forrest]

A German newsreel from the period shows a doctor using calipers to measure parts of the head of one of the lower peoples. There were “scientific” charts drawn up that “scientifically” defined the physical characteristics of these people.

Yes. While some people seem to think that, as a group, scientists and doctors are somehow almost immune to the effects of sin, examples like this illustrate how far astray and subjective they may be, all the while appealing to objectivity, “science” and “medicine” as cover.

The “science” you mention above (measuring heads, etc.) is called “phrenology.”

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology

 

[RJeremy]

As Time Magazine’s man of the year twice, add that to being anti-abortion and Hitler didn’t seem all bad after all.

 

[Victorious]

The Nazis were certainly in favor of post-natal infanticide. Consider the story of the Midwife of Auschwitz, Stanislawa Leszczynska, who delivered more than three thousand babies at Auschwitz and faced down Dr. Mengele himself over her refusal to follow orders to drown newborns in a barrel.

 

[Biggie]

Hitler opposed abortion for the Aryan population because, as he said, one does not know what one has lost when one terminates a child in the womb. This fact is clear from Hitler’s Table Talk, the several year transcript of his dinner conversations. It is also clear that he had no scruples regarding the limitation to elimination of the non-Aryan population by whatever means.

The non-Aryan population fell increasingly under the lebensunwertens Leben program (life unworthy of life), one early step of which was the coercive sterilization of women. The program was promoted as a public welfare program and popular support was sought. It involved the best of the German medical profession. The program progressed to the killing of impaired children, the killing of impaired adults and eventually the mass killings in the concentration camps. The extermination of the impaired was always carried out by doctors and in each case a death certificate citing a medical reason for the killing was supplied.

I think few people recognize the significant role medical doctors played in the Nazi genocide. Policies within the concentration camps for exterminations were written by doctors. Doctors performed selections for execution, manned the ambulances to the crematoria, dictated the correct lethal dose of Zyklon B to be administered, observed the dying process in the gas chambers, gave the order to ventilate the chambers to allow the removal of the dead, signed death certificates and oversaw tooth extractions from the deceased to recover the precious metals from fillings and dental work.

 

[Michael_Forrest]

The Nazis were certainly in favor of post-natal infanticide. Consider the story of the Midwife of Auschwitz, Stanislawa Leszczynska, who delivered more than three thousand babies at Auschwitz and faced down Dr. Mengele himself over her refusal to follow orders to drown newborns in a barrel.

That is a truly remarkable story. What courage!