Memorial for murdered children of the NS-Euthanasia Institution Am Spiegelgrund

The memorial for the children and young people murdered during the NS regime at the Youth Welfare Institution "Am Spiegelgrund" in the city of Vienna is located in Grave Group 40 at the Central Cemetery in Vienna-Simmering. Here, in April 2002, remains of more than 600 murdered children were buried in urns in a honor grave of the city of Vienna. On April 27, 2002, the memorial grave was opened. In total, between 1940 and 1945, about 800 sick, disabled, or children and young people deemed "untrainable" were killed by doctors and nursing staff at the institution "Am Spiegelgrund" after they had been classified as "life unworthy" according to the NS racial ideology. The mass murder was euphemistically referred to as "euthanasia." Doctors involved, such as Heinrich Gross, who were able to continue their careers after the NS regime, used body preparations until the 1980s for training purposes and publications. Heads and brains were stored in a basement of the pathology department of the "Am Steinhof" Institution for Care and Treatment. Histological sections from the preparations were discovered in large numbers in Pavilion B of the Institution for Care and Treatment in 1998. Other preparations had been passed on for research to the Neurological Institute of the University of Vienna and to the Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research in Gießen. Only in 1999 did the judiciary bring charges against Gross for participation in murder. The trial was postponed indefinitely in 2002 due to "inability to participate in negotiations" by Groos. He died three years later. The memorial consists of several stone slabs lying on the ground with engraved names of all known victims and dedicatory inscriptions.