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Some questions and discussion points for you and your students...
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A euphemism is an inoffensive term used in place of a more explicit one. In Nazi Germany, euphemisms were used to disguise events, dehumanize "racial enemies," and diffuse responsibility for specific actions. Thus the Nazis did not speak of throwing their enemies into jail but of taking them into "protective custody." To what extent is the title of the new law a euphemism? What does it disguise or conceal? How does it regard the individuals singled out for sterilization? How does it diffuse responsibility for sterilization?
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Physicians are bound by the Hippocratic oath--a vow to help the sick and abstain from any act that may be harmful to the patient. Describe a relationship between a physician and a patient based on the Hippocratic oath. How did the sterilization act alter that relationship?
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After visiting a hospital that performed sterilizations, Gregor Ziemer, an American educator, asked his SS guide who decides which women are to be sterilized. He was told, "We have courts. It is all done very legally, rest assured. We have law and order."1 What does it mean to act "under the cover of the law"? What purposes do laws serve in a society? Are they a way of keeping order? Ensuring justice? Protecting rights?
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