Berlin opens memorial to Nazi euthanasia victims

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A new memorial to victims of the Nazis’ so-called euthanasia program was dedicated in Berlin.

Information about “Action T4,” which carried out the gassing of more than 70,000 mentally handicapped people in Germany in 1940-41, is presented in a bus shelter near the spot at the public park, or Tiergarten, where the program was headquartered.

The information plaques, in German and English, were designed by local Jewish artist and activist Ronnie Golz, who also has designed bus stops with information about Adolf Eichman, a chief architect of the Holocaust; and Varian Fry, an American who helped some Jews flee Nazi territory for the United States.

The newest informational bus stop, formally dedicated Oct. 26, is located near the site of the former villa on Tiergarten Strasse 4. More than 200,000 people with mental and physical handicaps were put to death by the Nazi regime, which considered their lives worthless and a burden to the state.

Some specialists who trained as members of the Action T4 later played a significant role in building and operating Nazi extermination camps in Poland.

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