World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Hadamar Euthanasia Center was located inside of the psychiatric ward of the already established hospital in Hadamar in western Germany. As a part of the T-4 Euthanasia Program, Hadamar exterminated people deemed unfit to reproduce starting in 1941. The remains of those murdered were burned in a crematorium established on hospital grounds. Hadamar was captured by troops of US 2nd Infantry Division in early Apr 1945, but the extermination continued for some time to come before it was discovered and halted. The final documented patient to die at Hadamar was a 4-year-old mentally handicapped boy whose execution was conducted on 29 May 1945. Between 10,000 and 15,000 people were killed by the staff of Hadamar Euthanasia Center between 1941 and 1945. Most of them were killed in gas chambers, although the medical staff had directly killed a great many by lethal injections. Most of the victims were Germans, although among them were 476 Soviet and Polish forced laborers. The post war trial found chief administrator Alfons Klein, chief physician Adolf Wahlmann, several nurses, and several administrators guilty; Klein, among others, was executed by hanging. In early 1946, the responsibility of euthanasia crimes was transferred to German courts, which would find additional medical staff members guilty of murder. In 1946, Prince Philipp of the House of Hesse-Kassel, the governor of Hessen-Nassau, was charged with crimes against humanity for having signed the contract placing Hadamar hospital under Aktion T4 control; the charge was later dropped.

Hadamar Euthanasia Center Interactive Map

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Hadamar Euthanasia Center Timeline