Opinion
OTHER VIEWS
The Antithesis Of Nazi Practice
Los Angeles/JTA
I
t is the nuclear bomb of epithets,
a shorthand way of tarnishing any
opponent. In recent weeks, Rush
Limbaugh and others repeatedly have com-
pared President Obama to Adolf Hitler and
his health care policies to Nazi tactics. More
than one activist showed up at a town hall
meeting brandishing a swastika sign and
Obama's name.
"They were for abortion and euthanasia
of the undesirables," Limbaugh said of
the Nazis on his radio program. "As we all
know, they were for cradle-to-grave nation-
alized health care."
Reviewing what the Nazis actually did,
and why, shows that such inapt compari-
sons reveal more about the attackers than
the current proposals by the president or
Congress.
Some history: At the Nuremberg doctors'
trials in the late 1940s, the judicial process
focused mainly on Nazi medical experi-
ments. But scholars now regard standard
Nazi medical practice — the so-
The Nazis popularized and
called euthanasia program — as
made into policy a concept first
more serious, more all encom-
advanced by the eugenics move-
passing and more criminal.
ment: "life unworthy of living:'
Long before World War II, Nazi
physicians began with a mass
The Backdrop
sterilization aimed at propagat-
Mass murder of the handi-
ing a master race. Doctors steril-
capped began slowly. At first,
ized mentally retarded and con-
authorization was informal,
genitally ill Germans, designated
secret and narrow in scope
by Nazism as "useless eaters,"
— limited to the most seri-
Michael
consuming scarce resources of
ous
cases. From the Berlin
Berenbaum
the German nation still mired in
Chancellory
Tiergarten 4 (code
Special
depression. Worse, much worse,
named
T-4),
officials ordered
Commentary
was to follow.
a statistical survey of all psy-
Within the war's first six
chiatric institutions, hospitals
weeks, Hitler signed an order
and homes for chronic patients.
(backdated to Sept. 1, 1939, to give it the
Within months, the T-4 program enlisted
appearance of a wartime measure) giving
virtually the entire German psychiatric
two doctors "responsibility for expanding
community.
the authority of physicians ... to the end
Three medical experts reviewed forms
that patients considered incurable accord-
submitted during the survey without
ing to the best available human judgment
examining individual patients or reading
of their state of health, can be granted a
detailed records. Theirs was the power
mercy killing."
to decide life or death. Patients ordered
killed were transported to six killing cen-
ters: Hartheim, Sonnenstein, Grafeneck,
Bernburg, Hadamar and Brandenburg. The
SS donned white coats for the transports to
give themselves the appearance of medical
personnel.
The first killings were by starvation
— passive, simple, natural. Then injections
were used. Children were simply put to
sleep, never again to wake. Sedatives soon
became overdoses. Gassing became the
preferred method of killing. False show-
ers were constructed. Ph.D. chemists were
employed. The process was administered
by doctors, who killed 15 to 20 people at a
time. Afterward, black smoke billowed from
the chimneys as the bodies were burned.
A few doctors protested. Carl Bonhoeffer,
a leading psychiatrist, helped his son
Dietrich contact church groups urging
them not to turn over patients to the SS. A
few physicians refused to fill out the forms.
One psychiatrist, Professor Gottfried Ewald
of Gottingen, openly opposed the killing.
Growing public pressure, including a ser-
The Picket Fence
M
y picket fence exists only in
our minds and in our memories
from long ago. It's about having
a family that loves you and that you love and
keeping them close to you and the same with
your friends, neighbors, associates and even
your acquaintances, too.
Many people (myself included) find this
to be the true measure of a fulfilled life. For
the antithesis of my picket fence is the isola-
tion and loneliness that makes us empty and
unfulfilled.
My friends: My picket fence is the one that
existed in our neighborhoods of old Detroit
amidst city blocks filled with our landsmen.
My picket fence ran through those tightly
knit blocks and the stores and restaurants
formerly owned by our families and our
neighbors and our friends.
And it was by leaning on that picket fence
we learned about and supported those
friends, neighbors and family members. It
was there that we came to share their joys
and sorrows.
We all knew what was important to know
about everyone in our neighborhood. And
we helped by being personally involved
whenever they needed us. And we sup-
ported them in every way we could because
we knew that our turn would come and we
would look to and expect their help when
that was required.
32
September 10 2009
My picket fence is here sur-
rounding us as we look at each
other and sense our collective
responsibility to each other, and
as we learn to know each other
and to take responsibility for each
other in these difficult times.
We've just about lost it now as
we spend our lives dealing with
strangers and growing numb to
the need to support our own com-
munity and its magical ability
to offer us comfort and support
when we need it.
It exists still in our temples and
in our shuls, as few as there are. I
remember well when every street corner had
a neighborhood synagogue. And there are
still a few neighborhood stores and restau-
rants where we are certain to meet and see
our families, friends and acquaintances and
once again reconnect with them
One of the places that has for 67 years
been the sturdiest post in our picket fence
has been the Detroit Jewish News. Founded
by Phil Slomovitz in 1942 during a time of
great peril for us, the Jewish News coura-
geously became the link that brought us
together like a family
The initial backers of the Jewish News
were Fred Butzel, Isadore Sobeloff, Henry
Wineman, Abraham Sere, Maurice Schwartz,
Maurice Aronsson and Leonard
Simons and, to help the paper
gain airspeed, the Jewish Welfare
Federation arranged to purchase
subscriptions to the newspaper
for all contributors to the Allied
Jewish Campaign that year.
It was there in the pages of
the Jewish News that our picket
fence expanded beyond our
street, our temple and our local
neighborhood store and restau-
rant.
The Jewish News brought us
all together as one family as
merchants began to advertise,
restaurants were reviewed and the sagas
of people's nachas and sorrows appeared
weekly. At last, we could keep up on births,
bar mitzvahs, weddings, engagements and
even deaths. We learned about our own
Jewish community in a way and with a
depth that we never had before; and we
grew and we prospered.
A good, solid future awaited our children
and our web of community grew by leaps
and bounds with the newspaper as we
explored the multitude of opportunities,
services and experiences we learned about
through the weekly paper. We did this all
together!
Recently, I even found an engagement
notice in an 1944 August edition announc-
ing my father's engagement to a woman
he never married because he broke the
engagement when he met my mother. That
was a piece of news I would have never
known but for the IN.
But sadly, now our picket fence is in dan-
ger of falling; and we are in danger of losing
it forever.
Our children are leaving in ever-increas-
ing numbers for places with more seductive
promises than Detroit offers. And only we
can stem that tide.
The Jewish News has come upon hard
times and once again needs our support if it
is to continue to be our community pipeline
to local knowledge for the future.
I implore you all: Subscribe to the Jewish
News and then patronize its advertisers. It is
the road to our salvation and the only way
that we as Jews can keep our community in
Detroit intact and make it vibrant again.
For it is only through the support of our
own community that we can haul our-
selves from this mud hole and regain our
vibrancy Ci
This is an abridged version of a sermon that Jim
Hiller delivered at Temple Beth El in Bloomfield
Township on Friday night, Aug. 21.