1933-1934: The Nazi party rises to power in Germany and begin implementing eugenic laws
Soon after his rise to power, Hitler implemented his Blood Protection Laws forbidding marriage between Aryans and persons of Jewish ancestry. The Nazi’s also encourageded “positive” eugenics amongst Aryans. Some of the Nazi “racial hygiene laws”, such as the Act for Averting Descendants with Hereditary Diseases, were based on eugenic theory and policy that was popular in North America.
In the first two years of the Nazi eugenic policy, it is estimated that 80,000 sterilizations were carried out. Over the following decade 275,000 people with various mental and physical disabilities were killed as part of euthanasia programs. The Nazi eugenic agenda eventually led to the murder of millions of people among the Jewish and the Roma (also known as Gypsies).
According to the General Association of Strerilized Persons organized in Germany shortly after the Second World War, the number of people sterilized was over 2 million.
