[Involuntary sterilization of mentally handicapped patients]

Medical discourse on "racial hygiene" and the law on the prevention of hereditary disease in progeny passed in 1933 in Nazi Germany presents us the historical background to the topic. By analyzing six case histories from "hereditary health" court decisions during the years 1942-45, we illuminate how the law of 1933 was applied in Austria. Coming to the present, we put historical events into a more general perspective by reviewing recent debates and presenting a case history from today. There are similarities between the past and present decisions regarding carrying out sterilization of mentally handicapped persons, but the justification given for doing so has changed. The argument of today "protection of the individual" supplants "racial hygiene".