Death and Deliverance: 'Euthanasia' in Germany, c.1900 to 1945 - Tapa blanda

'Indictment is brilliantly combined with memorial ... he restores personality to individuals deemed unworthy of life. History writing is rarely this moving, or so admirably, effectively moralistic.' David Cesarani, The Guardian

'Everyone ought to read it ... It is difficult to believe that this account could be improved upon ... '. Anthony Storr, The Times

'Death and Deliverance is humane, tough-minded, thoroughly researched, and breaks new ground in some neglected areas ... the book is refreshinlgy free of intellectual jargon and cant without over-simplifying the isues involved.' Jeremy Noakes, University of Exeter

'Starkly written and impressively researched, it focuses on the lives of the victims, the administrators and medical personnel, and on public repsonses. This is a distinguished historical contribution.' Paul Weindling, University of Oxford

'This is the most illuminating discussion of the Nazi 'euthanasia' programme yet published. The thorough documentation and chilling quotations bring out the extent of the complicity of the medical profession, and the extent to which the programme was ideologically driven. It is also a powerful study of the way propaganda can make the unthinkable seem normal. The 'euthanasia' programme is too little known, and the lessons to be learnt from this book are important.' Jonathan Glover, University of Oxford

Between 1939 and 1945 the Nazis systematically murdered as many as 200,000 mentally ill or physically disabled people whom they stigmatised as 'life unworthy of life'. This complex and covert series of operations was known as the 'euthanasia' programme. It provided many of the personnel and the technical expertise later deployed in the 'Final Solution'. This is the first full-scale study in English of the 'euthanasia' programme. It considers the role of all those involved in these policies: bureaucrats, doctors, nurses, health officials, lawyers, clerics, and also parents, relatives, and the patients themselves. Using a wealth of original archival material, it highlights many of the moral issues involved in a way that is profoundly disquieting. The book concludes by showing the ease with which many of the perpetrators filtered back into German society after 1945.