Abstract (eng)
From 1940 till 1945, in the Kinderfachabteilung Am Spiegelgrund children and adolescents were abused for medical experiments, were plagued and finally murdered in the context of the Nazi euthanasia program. The available Master's thesis researched the question: which issues do the newspapers Kurier and Die Presse and the journal profil contain about these indictable offence? To answer this question, the method of the qualitative content analysis by Mayring was used. The theoretical part is the basis for the analysis, it gives a review about the (child) euthanasia in the National Socialism, the exposure of the justice and the community to the offenders and the exposure to the topic and the victims after the war. All in all, 119 articles were analysed. A category scheme which was developed specifically by means of the current state of research served as the principle for the investigation.
The evaluation asserted that the child euthanasia in the Heilpädagogischen Klinik Am Spiegelgrund was executed systematically, organised und top secret. Minors with handicaps or diseases, which were unworthy to live in the Nazi ideology, were assassinated by medication of tranquilliser or injections. Dr. Heinrich Gross was one of the physicians in the Kinderfachabteilung. After 1945, he was very successful in career terms, his background, with the support of his party, the SPÖ, too, was swept under the carpet. 55 years after the war, in 2000, Gross was on trial for participation on murder. However, the hearing was scrapped due to his disability to follow the litigation.