One of the things I am extremely hesitant to do is put a Nazi label on just anything. Overusing that diminishes what it means in my opinion.
/Stephen A. voice activated
HOWEVAH, what will eventually happen is the children born in this country that are deemed to have Autism or other things that cause some severe developmental disabilities. You can put children with Downs Syndrome in this group as well. What I am alluding to here was something from Nazi Occupied Europe that happened in Vienna. It was at the Vienna Children’s Hospital. A young doctor there had been one of the early pioneers in the research and identification of children that shared some common traits that would eventually be called autism. He was a fierce advocate for the children and thought that with the right education and opportunities that they could function as a normal part of society in most cases.
Funny thing happened with that guy. As almost every other doctor, psychiatrist and psychologist fled Europe in the mid 1930’s, he stayed behind to continue his work in Vienna. He would never officially join the Nazi party, but as time passed his views on these children changed and their most fierce advocate turned on them and thanks to the meticulous record keeping of the Nazis, we have a record of his transformation on paper.
That doctor was a man by the name of Hans Asperger. If you have wondered why the term Asperger’s Syndrome has disappeared from the lexicon this book might help you understand. I read it and it killed me. I just about became apoplectic with my current boss for using the term due to his own ignorance of the history of Asperger. I do not think a single one of you will make it through it without the room getting dusty several times.
This is thoroughly researched and is so important to me for reasons I have previously shared. If you eliminate educational opportunities for children like these who depend upon public school programs that offer special education, you turn your back on our most vulnerable.
Those lights out in front of the old building? A marker for every child who died in that hospital during the occupation. Over 800 in all. Most starved and labeled to have died from pneumonia instead. Read that book and read what the survivors in it said they saw. Read it and let it sink in because if a man entrusted to care for those who had no advocate can turn on them then so can Americans.