»I only pity my children when they once again have to say, >My father died in a madhouse<.« This was written by master shoemaker Martin Bader in the Schussenried institution to his family in 1939. The staff in the Grafeneck killing centre murdered him by gas in 1940.

The victims of the »euthanasia« murders came from all social strata. In particular patients who, in the view of the doctors at the hospital, did not contribute any viable work, who needed a lot of care or were disruptive were at risk of being murdered. Jewish patients, on the other hand, were killed solely because of their origin. Many of the victims were divorced or unmarried. Many patients had no-one who cared about them. However, even the intervention of worried relatives was often not enough to save patients.

After the centrally administered »Aktion T4« was called off in August 1941, the secret killing went on. From 1941, T4 doctors also selected concentration camp prisoners to murder.

Up to 1945, doctors and nursing staff members killed up to 90,000 institutional residents through deliberate deprivation, starvation and overdoses of medicine. The group of victims was extended to include old people, people injured by bombs, children in care and forced labourers.