Memorial 2006

MeTZelf collaborates with the International Commemoration Committee on Eugenic Mass Murder to organize annual memorials for the victims of psychiatrists during the nazi regime (T-4).

Like last year, MeTZelf was compelled to move the date of the Amsterdam memorial from May 2 to May 5, when we would be guaranteed a captive audience. However, we sent out our press release with a transcription of our annual speech on May 2. Although hundreds of people passed by, only a handful remained to hear the entire speech or take along a transcription.

One person asked why we dated the murders from 1939 and not from 1932. We expressed appreciation for his knowledge on the subject, and explained that according to our historical sources, the T-4 program was inaugurated in 1939. Before then there may have been murders, but not systematically or at such large scale. Of course many people succumbed to the treatments they received, including involuntary sterilization. But it was not yet mass murder.

Separately, two people whom we suspect were physicians took an interest. One said that he felt we were too confrontational. The other said that in his opinion we weakened our argument by drawing in the present day.

Actually, this last person unknowingly touched on a discussion that has been going on within ICC-EMM recently. Should we tie this history into the present day, or strictly commemorate the past? On the one hand, the people we are memorializing deserve to be remembered in their own right; on the other, it would be a mistake to imagine that these events have no relevance to the present-day situation. If you would like to share your thoughts on this, please contact us.

These commemorations exist by the grace of the volunteers around the globe who organize them. Please join ICC-EMM and organize a commemoration, no matter how modest, in your own town.

Click here for the Berlin commemoration of 2006.