LuciaDisturbed. I am a German American and I know German History very well. This is from Gallaudet University acamedic research papers. I will provide you with the Gallaudet University link.
In the 1920s, before the Nazis even came to power, there was a movement within both the US and German medical communities supported in general by society to sterilize mentally retarded and criminally insane people living in mental institutions.
Germany actually looked to the United States as a model in relation to sterilization and to excluding people with disabilities or congenital illness from immigration. The great Alexander Graham Bell's even began an initiative to stop Deaf people from intermarrying.
As the National Socialist party developed it had its Deaf supporters. A June 1933 issue of the deaf newspaper, Die Stimme, talks about the founding of the first Deaf storm trooper group, and there was also a Deaf motorized S.A. unit. However employment improved for Deaf people because hearing people were serving in the army.
By 1937, Muhs alleged, 95 percent of Deaf children belonged to the Hitler Youth for the Deaf. The young members wore the letter "G" on their shoulder (for "gehoerlosen" deaf).
By the mid-1930s, Muhs noted, many deaf Jews sensed that they were about to be persecuted. They were removed from leadership positions in deaf organizations and athletic associations, and other deaf people lost contact with them. A deaf newspaper of those years carried an article stating that contact between Jews and non-Jews was forbidden.
http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/WorldAroundYou/holocaust/holocaust-gt.html
In the 1920s, before the Nazis even came to power, there was a movement within both the US and German medical communities supported in general by society to sterilize mentally retarded and criminally insane people living in mental institutions.
Germany actually looked to the United States as a model in relation to sterilization and to excluding people with disabilities or congenital illness from immigration. The great Alexander Graham Bell's even began an initiative to stop Deaf people from intermarrying.
As the National Socialist party developed it had its Deaf supporters. A June 1933 issue of the deaf newspaper, Die Stimme, talks about the founding of the first Deaf storm trooper group, and there was also a Deaf motorized S.A. unit. However employment improved for Deaf people because hearing people were serving in the army.
By 1937, Muhs alleged, 95 percent of Deaf children belonged to the Hitler Youth for the Deaf. The young members wore the letter "G" on their shoulder (for "gehoerlosen" deaf).
By the mid-1930s, Muhs noted, many deaf Jews sensed that they were about to be persecuted. They were removed from leadership positions in deaf organizations and athletic associations, and other deaf people lost contact with them. A deaf newspaper of those years carried an article stating that contact between Jews and non-Jews was forbidden.
http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/WorldAroundYou/holocaust/holocaust-gt.html