Mission Statement

We see it as our duty to raise awareness of the traces of the people murdered in Hartheim Castle, to preserve these traces, to commemorate the victims with respect and reverence and to keep their memory alive.

We see Hartheim Castle as a place of remembrance of the victims of the Nazi euthanasia programme and, at the same time, a place of learning, in which the historical events become visible and vivid for the following generations.

We set out to research the historical events of the Nazi euthanasia programme, especially the crimes in Hartheim itself, to analyse them and document them. It is important to us that we investigate the social and political conditions under which the Nazi euthanasia was possible.

Today, we seek to raise awareness and consciousness and oppose the tendencies increasingly becoming visible in medicine and in social and healthcare policy towards denying particular groups of people the right to life.

We see the foundations and context of our work as the Christian-universalist ethics that form the basis of the legal system of our society and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the United Nations in 1948 to protect human dignity and rights.

We have decided to face the challenge posed by the field of “bioethics”, which claims to replace previous ethical principles. We unambiguously oppose these efforts. The central focus of our work is the situation of unborn, disabled, sick and elderly people.

Hartheim Castle prompts us all to remember where human cruelty can lead in its most extreme dimension. However, with the preserved traces of its victims, Hartheim Castle also challenges us to face the meaning of human individuality and the possibilities for allowing human individuality to fully unfold.