Richard Wood

A Dark Road Without Horizon

 1939-1945, The National Socialist government, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, was responsible for the murder of between 200,000 and 300,000 Disabled German citizens. The code name given to the programme was Aktion T4, referring to its administrative address at 4 Tiergartenstrasse, Berlin.

Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the pseudoscience of eugenics gained ground throughout the Western world, this ideology was taken to new extremes by the National Socialists, resulting in the Aktion T4 programme.

The killings were committed under the guise of ‘euthanasia’ or mercy death; however, the killings were in fact systematic murder, intended to cleanse the gene pool. Through a committed propaganda campaign, the Nazis intended to demonise and marginalise the disabled population. Materials were produced that measured the victims ‘worth’ against produce and GDP. Similar tactics went on to be used in the wider Holocaust. The disabled community were labelled ‘Useless eaters.’ and ‘Life unworthy of life.’

Six sites across Germany and Austria were selected to operate as ‘euthanasia’ facilities. The ‘euthanasia’ sites were the first instances of murder using gas chambers. Other methods of killing included lethal injection and starvation.

Initial targets of the Aktion T4 programme were infants in care facilities; this quickly expanded to include people of all ages. Disabilities deemed appropriate for the T4 programme ranged from basic learning difficulties and epilepsy to Soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism.

An elaborate network of transportation and administration was created to falsify medical records and locations of murder. Family members were given erroneous causes of death, certified by fabricated medical staff.

The dehumanisation of a large swathe of the population was a repugnant chapter in history. The dismissal of the value of human life would only lead to further atrocity.

Aktion T4 was a direct precursor to the Holocaust, which eventually resulted in the deaths of over six million people.

This body of photographic work documents and explores each of the sites. The intention of the work is to create a lasting photographic record and diarised account of this important, yet often overlooked, dark chapter in history.