Heroes and Villains of Deaf During Nazi Germany
Heroes[edit]
Gertrud Jacob[edit]
Gertrud Jacob was a regular woman who was Deaf, she didn’t do anything wrong but was immediately convicted by the Nazis. She is a very important advocate in Deaf History because of the resistance against the sterilization law. She was actually born Hearing but she mentioned during an interview in London during 1983 about her life during the reign of the Nazis, also by stating she had no connection to hereditary Deafness, but was classified as heredity deaf since she became Deaf.
During the times of May 1933 to January 1934 Gertrud Jacob worked as an au pair on a big estate in Belgium. An au pair at that time was usually a woman who would do housework or childcare in exchange for a room. At that time in her life, she was working in Brussels, Belgium; which is why the Nazis didn’t ask nor demanded her to get sterilized. Gertrud was asked to come back for two reasons, one was that her parents wanted her to come back and the other was that she was having issues with her personal relationship.
Later on, she voluntarily went to the Health Administration office on her own, mainly to discuss if she could obtain a marriage fitness certificate. Mainly so if she could go anywhere that requires to leave Germany she can have it in her pocket without having any trouble from the Nazis. She was pretty smart about trying to obtain it before things got worse and she could plan ahead. Getrud even wrote to her teacher regarding questions, but without her knowing that sending that letter was a trap. She sent a letter to her senior teacher named Herr Wienert explaining and also giving him a statement from her father explaining that she became Deaf from an accident when she was two years and nine months old. In which stated “Gertrud, who was born on December 11,1904, in my home on Dietrich Eckhardtstrasse 64, was a hearing child and lost her hearing through an accident. While on her way home in the company of her mother, Frau Jacob, the child was struck on the head by a soccer ball kicked by youngsters playing on Mykoniusplatz. The child’s face was very swollen and Gertrud was immediately treated by the ear specialist, Dr. Rosenbaum.” However she obtained a letter back from her teacher stating being that young and becoming Deaf wasn’t good enough and needs a certificate stating by a medical profession stating that she becoming Deaf instead on carrying the gene of deafness. Mainly so she could obtain her Marriage fitness certificate, also at that time without obtains a marriage fitness certificate those who didn’t have it wouldn’t be able to marry nor travel outside the country of Germany. She tried to leave aboard again to work as an au pair but the Nazi authorities said she couldn’t leave until after her sterilization. They even made sure her passport was red flagged so she couldn’t exit the country.
Later within the year of 1938 she obtained a letter from the court stating she must attend regarding her sterilization. They were trying to prove that she was considered a person with hereditary disease, however she claims that her cousin in which she named him A.K. lost his hearing due to repeated amounts of ear infections. Even though she came from a Hearing family the court denied her request and demanded a sterilization because of her one cousin A.K. that he became Deaf. They didn’t mention about how he obtained it but the court stated because of him she was connected to Hereditary Deafness. The court system at that time wasn’t fair and only decided their judgement call based on only evidence they wanted to hear.
Being denied by the court Gertrud quickly sent out an appeal because she said there was still a chance to do so, by sending an appeal to the superior hereditary health court. She wasn’t going to stop and unlike many others she was one of the few that had a voice and to try to stop her sterilization. She presented to teachers and professionals about receiving a statement so the courts to understand that she wasn’t born Deaf, since the courts only believe statements from teachers and medical professionals.
However one day she bought a book that explained the laws during 1938 in Germany explaining about the Marriage Fitness Law. It stated that if a citizen of Germany is marrying someone with foreign citizenship that the law does not apply to that specific couple. During the interview she gave that during 1931 she met a man at a Deaf Olympics that was held in Nuremberg. The man was from Czechoslovakia, in which she didn’t know that would be her future husband. He knew some German which kept keeping in contact better, so when she received the summons she had to write to her future husband but at that time was a close friend. He knew all about the sterilization and the loophole of the law, came down from in which Gertrud's family as well of her husband agreed about the marriage so Getrud could have kids. They were able to move to Czechoslovakia and live and raised her children, however when her husband was about to pass he told her to never leave Czechoslovakia. He wanted her to be safe because they both thought if she goes back to Germany that they would sterilized her, so since he save Gertrud from sterilization she fulfill his wishes of never leaving.[1]
Nazi Eugenics was the ideals of the Nazi party of who was physically fit to reproduce offspring without any type of defects. Their definition of defects of those who classified as blind, vision impaired, deaf, schizophrenia, and weak physically. They conducted one specific act to make sure those who were not worthy enough in the Nazi’s eyes to reproduce. Under this Act more than 400,000 people were forced to be sterilized. Hitler concluded that Germany was weak in which why he either killed off the who weren’t physically fit or sterilized to make sure those individuals wouldn’t pass their genes to their offspring. On July 14, 1933 they passed an act known and the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring so doctors had to most importantly had to report women who carried physically fit genes, but women over 45 years old didn’t have to be reported. If doctors didn’t comply with this act then they would be fine. In 1934 they had Health courts to help people appeal against their summons of stopping the sterilization, when it first started they had 4,000 individuals only 441 people were saved from sterilization. Lastly, they had a law passed Nuremberg laws where if two people want to get married they must get tested to make sure they didn’t have any hereditary diseases. They both were carefully examined especially their family history to make sure their ancestors didn’t have any diseases to pass on to future offspring.[2]
August Veltmann[edit]
August was the only deaf person to awarded a papal order of merit. His order of merit is an award, for notable work in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture.[3] He became the chairperson of the Catholic deaf association in Münster from 1924 until 1945. August received an honor for his courageous opposition to the Nazis and his determination advocacy on behalf of deaf Catholics in the Third Reich. He effectively communicated with some nazi about deafness and spared some. August received demands from REGEDE to join movement but got declined. His oppression came from REGEDE. REGEDE is the Reich Union of the Deaf in Germany. Someone personally reported him Gestapo. The eugenics endangered his relationship to Deaf community.[4]
Karl Wacker[edit]
Karl Wacker was born on October 16, 1904. He was a Social Democrat but eventually was a member of the Nazi party. As a result, he was fired from the City Bank of Stuttgard. Eventually, the Third Appeals Chamber of Stuggard was able to determine that he was not an active Nazi Party member.
As chairman of the Association for the Welfare of the Deaf in Wüttemburg-Hohenzollern, Karl Wacker fought for fellow deaf that were being asked to be sterilized. The Health Court maintained that sterilization was harmless and did not stand for resistance to the law. Although the Gestapo was watching him, Wacker continued to help the deaf.[5]
Villains[edit]
Oskar Rönigk[edit]
Oskar Rönigk was the founder of the Homberg Institution which was meant to have teachers help Deaf students obtain an education. During his time as a principal, he was known to be very strict and report deaf students to the health authorities to sterilize them. Rönigk not only reported current students he also reported former students. He had letters sent out to parents regarding of their Deaf children. Rönigk wanted to know more information regarding the child of who else was Deaf in their family or what other diseases they may have. Once they found out more about the child’s genetic history, Rönigk believed that all educators and doctors should comply with the health authorities to make sure they were sterilized. He wanted to make sure that all current students and those who graduated were sterilized, in which he would give current and old documents to the health authorities to make sure anyone who attended the Homberg Institution were surely sterilized.[6]
Gotthold Lehmann[edit]
Gotthold assumed a dual position in 1924. Six years later he reported that the training program had twenty-eight candidates and that “the admissions register, which was begun in 1874,” had reached candidate number 487.5. He was responsible for making proposals for future university courses to the Prussian state ministry for science, art, and public education and for supervising payments to the institute’s faculty. He proposed eugenics-related topics for participants in the first-year program: “introduction to the theory of hereditary” and “exercises in the science of hereditary.” His proposals were accepted by the Prussian state ministry and then the training programs were canceled by the ministry for 1933-1935 and 1938-1940. Lehmann became the principal and director of a deaf teacher training program, proposed that several eugenic-related topics should be used in the instruction of the teachers for the deaf. The curriculum that he invited was in close affiliation with that of the Nazi regime and use of sterilization. He was the member of the national socialist teachers confederation, and strongly encouraged parents of his deaf students, through various forms such as letter writing, to consent to their children’s sterilization. He would still the anxieties of the parents by arguing that the experience of sterilization could be positive and rewarding. Two years later, Gotthold nominated Schürmann for a university-level teaching position. Since August 1, 1932, Lehmann emphasized that Schürmann had been a member of the Nazi party.[7]
Werner Thomas[edit]
Werner Thomas was a stormtrooper for the German Army. He created new signs for Nazi terms.As president of the Berlin Deaf Athletic Association, Werner Thomas made a concerted effort to have deaf participate in Hitler Youth. In the Newsletter of the Berlin Death Athletic Association, he said, "There our youngsters will be trained in iron discipline, comradeship, and self-sacrifice." Werner Thomas joined in the persecution of his fellow deaf. He told other deaf "let your girlfriend go, she's too good for you! You're not pure and you're even hereditarily unfit."[8] During the Holocaust, there was a "'euthanasia' program -for the murder of intellectually or physically disabled and emotionally disturbed".[9] The program would thus include deaf individuals. Werner Thomas prescribed to this thinking by informing on deaf and defending Nazi Eugenics.
References[edit]
- ↑ Crying hands : eugenics and deaf people in Nazi Germany. Gallaudet University Press. ISBN 1563682559. Search this book on
- ↑ "Nazi eugenics". Wikipedia. 24 June 2018.
- ↑ "Order of Merit". Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 21 August 2017.
- ↑ Crying hands : eugenics and deaf people in Nazi Germany. Gallaudet University Press. ISBN 1563682559. Search this book on
- ↑ Crying hands : eugenics and deaf people in Nazi Germany. Gallaudet University Press. ISBN 1563682559. Search this book on
- ↑ Crying hands : eugenics and deaf people in Nazi Germany. Gallaudet University Press. ISBN 1563682559. Search this book on
- ↑ Crying hands : eugenics and deaf people in Nazi Germany. Gallaudet University Press. ISBN 1563682559. Search this book on
- ↑ Crying hands : eugenics and deaf people in Nazi Germany. Gallaudet University Press. ISBN 1563682559. Search this book on
- ↑ "Holocaust | Definition, Concentration Camps, & History". Encyclopedia Britannica.
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