Crying Hands: Eugenics and Deaf People in Nazi Germany

Horst Biesold is an interpreter who in the performance of his job, came across members of the German deaf community who were finally willing to tell their story about being forced to undergo sterilization. He writes with obvious concern for and about his deaf clients, and the emotional and psychological impact that the eugenics laws had on these people. It is with concern and dismay that I am researching the same subject only in the United States, since the Nazis often wrote that many of their ideas and programs were first proffered by eugenicists in the U.S.

This book is a good reminder that when societies don't stand up for what is right, even when it does not directly affect most individuals, you cannot tell how far the 'slippery slope' is going to go. The Holocaust did not just become the Final Solution for the Jews, but included the gypsies and the disabled, and those who were considered 'life unworthy of life.' With the completion of the Human Genome Project, and proponents of euthanasia getting more vocal, and doctors like Kervorkian, and HMOs who put their bottom line before the worth of people...it is all too possible that this horror could happen again, and in this country. I urge ethicists, physicians, and educators to read this book as well as members of the deaf/disabled community so that we can protect ourselves from those who would put less value on our lives for whatever reason. Karen L. Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh