Exhibition

The central issue of the exhibition “The Value of Life” is the attitude to handicapped people and the way in which society deals with them. The period dealt with here begins with the the age of enlightenment and ends in the present. The themes range from sorting humans as to their economical “use“ or “uselessness” as was the case at the beginning of the industrial age, right up to the present demand of social equality for the handicapped.

The murder of handicapped people who Socialism deemed “unworthy of life” during the period of National Socialism forms the negative extreme in this development and a focal point of reflection. Hartheim Palace was one of six Euthanasia institutes of the Third Reich from 1940 to 1944 and stands today as a gruesome reminder of what discrimination can lead to.

Information for Visitors