CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains references to violence and a mention of SA against children.

“January 1941. A terrible crime is taking place in a clinic for disabled children. The perpetrators argue that it will help struggling parents and lift the financial burden on the mighty German state. One brave voice is raised in objection. But will the doctor listen?”

In this episode, Sam and Alex welcome their very first guest to the show. Director, writer and teacher Stephen Unwin talks about his play All Our Children; his experiences as the father of a disabled son; his work in disability rights and activism; Aktion T4, the Nazi campaign to ‘euthanise’ all those with physical and mental disabilities; and the play’s terrible relevance today.

Hosts: Samantha Mitschke & Alexandra Gellner

Guest: Stephen Unwin

Executive Producer: Samantha Mitschke

Producer / Editor: Alexandra Gellner

Music: “⁠Image⁠” by ⁠Infraction Music⁠

Contact: ⁠https://holocaustonstage.com/contact/⁠

Books & Articles

Michael Burleigh (1995/2002) ⁠Death and Deliverance: ‘Euthanasia’ in Germany 1900-1945⁠. Cambridge University Press/Pan Books.

Dagmar Herzog (2024) ⁠The Question of Unworthy Life: Eugenics and Germany’s Twentieth Century⁠. Princeton University Press.

Sara Ryan (2017) ⁠Justice for Laughing Boy: Connor Sparrowhawk - A Death by Indifference⁠. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Plays

Stephen Unwin (2017) ⁠All Our Children⁠. Nick Hern Books.

Stephen Unwin (2024) ⁠Laughing Boy⁠. Nick Hern Books.

Other sources

The film Stephen highly recommends is ⁠Korczak (1990), written by Agnieszka Holland and directed by Andrzej Wajda.

For more information and to contact Stephen: ⁠https://www.stephenunwin.uk/⁠

You can learn more about Aktion T4 from ⁠Gedenkstätte Hadamar⁠ and in the ⁠Holocaust Encyclopedia⁠ of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM).