In Europe

now, not from then.’ Resistance must be learned; in the 1930s it was a rare capacity of the few.
    The Bethel dossier is a clear example of how difficult that learning process can be.
    Bethel is an Evangelical Church institution. The names of the wards come from the Promised Land: Emmaus, Capernaum, Carmel. Bethany, formerly known as Patmos, consists of a complex with eight wings that today houses a neurological clinic. In the 1930s this was home to some one hundred epileptic and multiply handicapped young people. They were the direct target of the Nazis’ campaign of genetic purification.
    The first campaign, as we have already seen, comprised the sterilisation of ‘degenerates’. Bethel's management did not protest. Everyone who fit the criteria was obediently sterilised in 1933. Six years later, when the euthanasia campaign began, the staff became more agitated. In late 1939, Bethel's auxiliary branch at Brandenburg was ordered to fill out ‘registration forms’ for all its patients. This, it was claimed, was merely a ‘statistical measure’. When he read the questions, however, the head of the clinic, Reverend Paul Braune, became alarmed. He refused to complete the papers, and Bethel's management did likewise.
    A few months later, in March 1940, Braune was asked to investigate the sudden death of thirteen epileptics. His inquiries, carried out at other institutions as well, confirmed his suspicions: in total silence, a campaign of murder had started. When he reported his findings to the authorities he was told that it would be wiser for him to investigate no further.
    During the weeks that followed, Braune and Bodelschwingh warned everyone they could contact: colleagues at other institutions, government officials, ecclesiastical leaders. By summer 1940, all of the highest church authorities had been informed, including the Spiritual Advice Council of the Evangelical Church of Germany. On 9 July, 1940, Braune sent a memorandum to the church's leaders: ‘We beg you to act as quickly as possible, now that the greatest danger is at hand.’ The next day, the Evangelical Bishop of Würtemberg, Theophil Wurm, wrote a personal, ten-page letter to the ministry of internal affairs in which he expressed his deep concern about the rumours he was hearing.
    Had the church leaders voiced a public protest at that point, the lives of tens of thousands of handicapped people would probably have been saved. Hitler was – in later years as well – very sensitive to German public opinion on this matter. Braune received a noncommital reply. One month later he was arrested by the Gestapo. Bodelschwingh was informed that a warrant had been issued for his arrest as well.
    This first phase of resistance was characterised by secrecy. Everything took place behind the scenes. The most important and most obvious weapon, that of public opinion, was not wielded. Nor did Bodelschwingh ever make use of his many contacts abroad. Noteworthy was the confidence both clergymen had in the government. Both of them continued to assume that National Socialist Germany was a state under the rule of law, both saw the euthanasia programme as a mere aberration, a minor abuse in an otherwise well-run society.
    The second phase began. Paul Braune was released in late October 1940, but he had to promise to no longer resist ‘the measures taken by state and party’. Everyone in his surroundings knew why he had been arrested and why he was silenced. Bodelschwingh's involvement went no further than the institutions for which he himself was responsible. Unlike some of his fellow clergymen, he never again uttered a public protest.
    Meanwhile, Bethel had allowed seven Jewish patients to be sent on transport. They were the Nazis’ primary target, and were almost certainly gassed in the former Brandenburg house of correction. Five other Jewish patients were removed from the institution by their families in the nick of time. Soon afterwards, they too were probably killed. Bethel did not protect a single Jew.
    For non-Jewish patients, the situation was very different. Bodelschwingh and his people continued in their stubborn refusal to fill out registration forms. The reason they gave was their own Christian conscience, but, as Kühl's study shows, they also sought a form of cooperation with the T-4 physicians. In the end, a compromise was reached. A committee of eighteen euthanasiasts was allowed to visit Bethel in March 1941 and submit a number of patients