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Action T4 (, ) was the postwar designation for a programme of forced euthanasia in wartime Nazi Germany.〔Sandner (1999): 385 (66 in PDF) ''Note 2.'' The author claims the term Action T4 was not used by the Nazis but was first used in the trials against the doctors and later included in the historiography. 〕 The name T4 is an abbreviation of ''Tiergartenstraße 4'', a street address of the Chancellery department set up in spring 1940 in the Berlin borough of Tiergarten, which recruited and paid personnel associated with T4. Under the programme German physicians were directed to sign off patients "incurably sick, by critical medical examination" and then administer to them a "mercy death" (German: ''Gnadentod'').〔Proctor (1988): 177〕 In October 1939 Adolf Hitler signed a "euthanasia decree" backdated to 1 September 1939 that authorized ''Reichsleiter'' Philipp Bouhler, the chief of his Chancellery,〔This was the ''Kanzlei des Führer der NSDAP'', not to be confused with the Reich Chancellery or ''Reichskanzlei''.〕 and Dr. Karl Brandt, Hitler's personal physician, to carry out the programme of involuntary euthanasia ''(translated as follows)'': The programme ran officially from September 1939,〔(Peter Longerich, ''Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews'', p. 477 – note 44 )〕 to August 1941,〔Browning (2005): p. 193〕 during which the recorded 70,273 people were killed at various extermination centres located at psychiatric hospitals in Germany and Austria. Several rationales for the programme have been offered, including eugenics, compassion, reducing suffering, racial hygiene, cost effectiveness and pressure on the welfare budget. After the formal end date of the programme, physicians in German and Austrian facilities continued many of the practices that had been instituted under Action T4, until the defeat of Germany in 1945.〔Lifton (1986): p. (95 )-(96 )〕 The unofficial continuation of the policy led to additional deaths by medicine and similar means;〔(Lifton (1986): p. 142. )〕 resulting in 93,521 beds "emptied" by the end of 1941. Historians estimate that twice the official number of T4 victims might have perished before the end of the war,〔 exceeding 200,000.〔Michael Burleigh (1994), ''( Death and Deliverance: 'Euthanasia' in Germany, C.1900 to 1945 )'' CUP Archive, ISBN 0521477697.〕 In addition, technology that was developed under Action T4, particularly the use of lethal gas to commit mass murder, was subsequently taken over by the medical division of the Reich Interior Ministry, along with transfer of personnel who had participated in the development of the technology and later served with Operation Reinhard. This technology, the personnel and the techniques developed to deceive victims were used in the implementation of industrial killings in mobile death vans, and in established extermination camps with gas chambers for mass murder during the Holocaust. == Language == Euthanasia (from (ギリシア語:εὐθανασία); "good death": εὖ, ''eu''; "well" or "good" – θάνατος, ''thanatos''; "death") is the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering.〔Philosopher Helga Kuhse: "'Euthanasia' is a compound of two Greek words - 'eu' and 'thanatos' meaning, literally, 'a good death'. Today, 'euthanasia' is generally understood to mean the bringing about of a good death - 'mercy killing,' where one person, A, ends the life of another person, B, for the sake of B." — ( Euthanasia fact sheet. ) A more extensive definition and analysis with references is contained in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: (Euthanasia entry. )〕 Hitler's directive to create the programme used the German term "''Gnadentod''" which translates to merciful death.〔 The Aktion T4 programme used the term 'euthanasia' as bureaucratic cover and in the minimal public relations efforts (see poster) to invest what was essentially an outgrowth of eugenics with greater medical legitimacy. It is however clear that little, if any, of the killing was done to alleviate pain or suffering on the part of the victims. Rather, the bulk of the evidence — including faked death certificates, deception of the victims and of the victims' families, and widespread use of cremation — indicates the killing was done solely according to the socio-political aims and beliefs of the perpetrators.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Action T4」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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