It is said of these patients: They are like an old machine which no longer runs, like an old horse which is hopelessly paralyzed, like a cow which no longer gives milk.What do we do with a machine of this kind? We put it in a junkyard. What do we do with a paralyzed horse? No, I do not wish to push the comparison to the end…We are not talking here about a machine, a horse, nor a cow…No, we are talking about men and women, our compatriots, our brothers and sisters. Poor unproductive people if you wish, but does this mean that they have lost their right to live?
While that is bold speech in the Third Reich, what he said that was even more powerful and bold was a condemnation of those involved in the euthanasia program.
We wish to withdraw ourselves and our faithful from their influence, so that we may not be contaminated by their thinking and their ungodly behavior, so that we may not participate and share with them in the punishment which a just God should and will pronounce upon all those who – like ungrateful Jerusalem – do not wish was God wishes.