Nazi eugenics programme begins with the proclamation of the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring requiring the compulsory sterilization of any citizen who suffers from alleged genetic disorders

The “Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring” (Gesetz zur Verhütung erbkranken Nachwuchses) was a Nazi law enacted on July 14, 1933. This law was a cornerstone of the Nazi eugenics program and aimed to prevent people with certain genetic disorders from reproducing. The law mandated compulsory sterilization for individuals who were considered to have hereditary conditions that could be passed on to their offspring.

The conditions listed in the law included:

Congenital feeblemindedness (intellectual disability)
Schizophrenia
Manic-depressive (bipolar) disorder
Hereditary epilepsy
Huntington’s chorea (a type of hereditary progressive neurodegenerative disorder)
Hereditary blindness
Hereditary deafness
Severe hereditary physical deformities
Chronic alcoholism

The law was enforced by Hereditary Health Courts (Erbgesundheitsgerichte), which had the authority to decide whether individuals should be sterilized. The decisions of these courts were often based on minimal evidence and were influenced by the discriminatory and pseudoscientific beliefs of the time.

This legislation resulted in the forced sterilization of around 400,000 people by the end of the Nazi regime. It was part of the broader eugenics movement in Nazi Germany, which sought to create a “racially pure” society by eliminating those deemed “genetically unfit.” The law was a precursor to even more horrific policies, including the euthanasia programs and the genocide of the Holocaust.