The First into the Dark: The Nazi Persecution of the Disabled

Under the Nazi regime a secret program of 'euthanasia' was undertaken against the sick and disabled. Known as the Krankenmorde (the murder of the sick) 300,000 people were killed. A further 400,000 were sterilised against their will. Many Complicit doctors, nurses, soldiers and bureaucrats would then perpetrate the holocaust.

From eyewitness accounts, records and case files, The First into the Dark narrates a history of the victims, perpetrators, opponents to and witnesses of the Krankenmorde, and reveals deeper implications for contemporary society: moral values and ethical challenges in end of life decisions, reproduction and contemporary genetics, disability and human rights, and in remembrance and atonement for the past.

Michael Robertson is a consultant psychiatrist, Clinical Associate Professor of Mental Health Ethics (Sydney Health Ethics centre, University of Sydney) and a Visiting Professorial Fellow at the Sydney Jewish Museum. He has researched, taught and written extensively on psychiatric ethics, involuntary psychiatric treatment, psychotherapy, psychological trauma and the psychiatric profession under National Socialism.

Astrid Ley, PhD, is a historian and historian of medicine. She is curator of the Brandenburg T4 memorial, and deputy director and academic head of the Sachsenhausen and Brandenburg memorials' foundation. Her main research interest is medicine under National Socialism. At Sachsenhausen, she curated several permanent exhibitions, including The Euthanasia Institution at Brandenburg an der Havel. She has published numerous articles in academic periodicals and edited two anthologies. She is a lecturer at Berlin Free University.

Edwina Light is a postdoctoral research fellow at Sydney Health Ethics (SHE) at the University of Sydney, and a visiting fellow at the Sydney Jewish Museum. With a background in health journalism and communications, she completed her bioethics training at SHE. Her research seeks to inform public debate and policymaking where matters of health ethics, policy and law intersect, with a particular focus on mental health ethics. Her research publications include works on mental health policy, involuntary treatment and systems of coercion, the experiences and perspectives of stakeholders, and the psychiatric profession under National Socialism.