The euthanasia decree extended beyond the insane to all deemed incurably sick

Evidence

The decisive decree starting all subsequent mass murders was signed by Hitler on September 1, 1939—the day the war broke out—and referred not merely to the insane (as is often erroneously assumed) but to all those who were “incurably sick.” The insane were only the first to go. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2614

Categorization

• SHARE: For someone into Holocaust historiography — the common ‘it started with the insane’ account is wrong; the decree was broader.