Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

others perish. The demand that defective people be prevented from propagating equally
defective offspring is a demand of the clearest reason and if systematically executed
represents the most humane act of mankind. It will spare millions of unfortunates
undeserved sufferings, and consequently will lead to a rising improvement of health as a
whole. The determination to proceed in this direction will oppose a dam to the further spread
of venereal diseases. For, if necessary, the incurably sick will be pitilessly segregated-a
barbaric measure for the unfortunate who is struck by it, but a blessing for his fellow men
and posterity. The passing pain of a century can and will redeem millenniums from
sufferings.
The struggle against syphilis and the prostitution which prepares the way for it is one of the
most gigantic tasks of humanity, gigantic because we are facing, not the solution of a single
question, but the elimination of a large number of evils which bring about this plague as a
resultant manifestation. For in this case the sickening of the body is only the consequence of
a sickening of the moral, social, and racial instincts.
But if out of smugness, or even cowardice, this battle is not fought to its end, then take a
look at the peoples five hundred years from now. I think you will find but few images of God,
unless you want to profane the Almighty.
But how did they try to deal with this plague in old Germany? Viewed calmly, the answer is
really dismal. Assuredly, government circles well recognized the terrible evils, though
perhaps they were not quite able to ponder the consequences; but in the struggle against it
they failed totally, and instead of thoroughgoing reforms preferred to take pitiful measures.
They tinkered with the disease and left the causes untouched. They submitted the individual
prostitute to a medical examination, supervised her as best they could, and, in case they
established disease, put her in some hospital from which after a superficial cure they again
let her loose on the rest of humanity.
To be sure, they had introduced a 'protective paragraph' according to which anyone who was
not entirely healthy or cured must avoid sexual intercourse under penalty of the law. Surely
this measure is sound in itself, but in its practical application it was almost a total failure. In
the first place, the woman, in case she is smitten by misfortune-if only due to our, or rather
her, education-will in most cases refuse to be dragged into court as a witness against the
wretched thief of her health-often under the most embarrassing attendant circumstances.
She, in particular, has little to gain from it; in most cases she will be the one to suffer mostfor
she will be struck much harder by the contempt of her loveless fellow creatures than
would be the case with a man. Finally, imagine the situation if the conveyor of the disease is
her own husband. Should she accuse him? Or what else should she do?
In the case of the man, there is the additional fact that unfortunately he often runs across
the path of this plague after ample consumption of alcohol, since in this condition he is least
able to judge the qualities of his 'fair one,' a fact which is only too well known to the diseased
prostitute, and always causes her to angle after men in this ideal condition. And the upshot
of it all is that the man who gets an unpleasant surprise later can, even by thoroughly
racking his brains, not remember his kind benefactress, which should not be surprising in a
city like Berlin or even Munich. In addition, it must be considered that often we have to deal
with visitors from the provinces who are completely befuddled by all the magic of the big city.
Finally, however: who can know whether he is sick or healthy? Are there not numerous cases
in which a patient apparently cured relapses and causes frightful mischief without himself
suspecting it at first?
Thus, the practical effect of this protection by legal punishment of a guilty infection is in
reality practically nil. Exactly the same is true of the supervision of prostitutes; and finally,
the cure itself, even today, is dubious. Only one thing is certain: despite all measures the
plague spread more and more, giving striking confirmation of their ineffectualness.
The fight against the prostitution of the people's soul was a failure all along the line, or
rather, that is, nothing at all was done.