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Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases (July 14, 1933)

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§ 6.
The Eugenics Court is to be attached to a district court [Amtsgericht]. It consists of a district court judge acting as chairman, a state physician, and another physician certified by the German Reich and particularly well trained in eugenics. [ . . . ]

§12.
Once the Court has decided on sterilization, the operation must be carried out even against the will of the person to be sterilized, unless that person applied for it himself. The state physician has to attend to the necessary measures with the police authorities. Where other measures are insufficient, direct force may be used.

[ . . . ]


This law comes into effect on January 1, 1934.
Berlin, July 14, 1933.


The Reich Chancellor
Adolf Hitler

The Reich Minister of the Interior
Frick

The Reich Minister of Justice
Dr. Gürtner



Source of English translation: Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases (July 14, 1933). In US Chief Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression. Volume 5, Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1946, Document 3067-PS, pp. 880-83. (English translation accredited to Nuremberg staff; edited by GHI staff.)

Source of original German text: Das Gesetz zur Verhütung erbkranken Nachwuchses (14. Juli 1933), Reichsgesetzblatt, 1933, Part I, p. 529; reprinted in Paul Meier-Benneckenstein, ed., Dokumente der deutschen Politik, Volume 1: Die Nationalsozialistische Revolution 1933, edited by Axel Friedrichs. Berlin, 1935, pp. 194-95.

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