Action T4 [Aktion T4], named after its headquarters at Tiergartenstraße 4 in Berlin, started in September 1939. The program was tasked with identifying individuals of all ages with various mental, physical, and “social” disabilities (alcoholism, career criminality, homosexuality, etc.). With the help of local physicians and nurses, the program targeted “Aryans” and non-Germans alike. Patients selected for Action T4 were transported to a special facility where they were murdered and cremated. Relatives of victims were often unaware that their loved ones had been killed by medical staff—the causes of death were often cited as appendicitis, pneumonia, and infection.

The program was meant to be secret, but rumours quickly spread. Public protests led to an official halt to the program on August 24, 1941, though the regime ordered the continuation of the killings in greater secrecy only a few months later. Historians estimate that more than 70,000 men, women, and children were murdered through Action T4.

This registration form shows how patients were selected for the program. The questions offer a glimpse into how the National Socialists fused medical knowledge with their racist ideology. Categories of race and citizenship were added alongside family medical history. Detailed descriptions of the patient’s labor productivity were required. All of this constituted an evaluation of a patient’s ability to be an active and contributing member of the Volk community.