[Slyfox]

Autism back then was something that stumped the doctors and they suggested that the parents institutionize the child. It was probably considered a form of mental retardation.

They used to do that to Down Syndrome babies all the time.

[Shadow44]

It was. Dr. Asperger had to maintain a delicate balance to keep his child patients from being murdered by the Nazis as part of their euthanasia program. His argument was that they weren’t useless subhumans but could be highly skilled at things like codebreaking.