Useless Eaters: Disability as a Genocidal Marker in Nazi Germany

Mostert's Article Review
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The article "Useless Eaters: Disability as a Genocidal Marker in Nazi Germany" by Mostert (2002) extensively and critically analyzes the atrocities against disabled people during the Holocaust. Mostert (2002) through the article argues that the initial victims of the genocidal policies of Nazi Germany were the disabled people way before the Jews and other groups were systematically targeted and eventually exterminated. According to Marczak and Shields (2020), the Jews were not targeted for religion but for racial minorities. Also, Marczak and Shields (2020) point out atrocities against people with disabilities as having targeted marginalized groups. Such disabilities included physical, intellectual, and emotional disabilities, and mass exterminations were prevalent. Moreover, Marczak and Shields (2020) point out that there were a lot of atrocities against disabled people and other marginalized groups during Holocaust. Substantially, Mostert gives a historical glimpse of the attributes of disabled people in Nazi Germany and how this led to mass killings of such people before or during World War III. This paper will offer an in-depth and extensive review of Mostert's (2002) article and give a personal reflection on the topics in the article.
Mostert (2002) starts by offering a historical context concerning the eugenic movement noting that it was a prevalent concept in the 20th century and has spread to the United States. The eugenic movement sought to enhance the human gene pool through selective breeding and the prevention of reproducing "unfit" people. The Nazis in Germany extended and took to the extreme the eugenics concept since they perceived those with disabilities as unworthy or unfit for their community (Marczak & Shields, 2020). Mostert (2002) points out that the Nazi government contemplated individuals with disabilities as a waste of the government's resources and a significant threat to the purity of the Aryan race.
Mostert (2002) observes that the murders of people with disabilities started in 1939 with the T-4 program establishment, which aimed at systematically exterminating disabled individuals. The government started to kill disabled children and labeled them as "useless eaters." Mostert (2002) posits that the term dehumanized people with disabilities such that society perceived them as nothing and a burden. Mostert (2002) offers detailed accounts of the implementation of the T-4 program, depicting the ruthless efficiency used to identify, transport, and kill disabled people. This analysis demonstrates that the mass killing of disabled individuals was beyond the T-4 program factor extending to other types of prosecution like euthanasia,...