Origine: Omelia presso la chiesa di San Lamberto, 3 agosto 1941. Hast du, habe ich nur so lange das Recht zu leben, solange wir produktiv sind, solange wir von anderen als produktiv anerkannt werden? Wenn man den Grundsatz aufstellt und anwendet, daß man den »unproduktiven« Mitmenschen töten darf, dann wehe uns allen, wenn wir alt und altersschwach werden!, dal "sermone di eutanasia", citato in Akten, Briefe und Predigten, 1933–1946, a cura di Peter Löffler, Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag, 1988. ISBN 3-7867-1394-4, p. 878. Vedi anche progedenkstaetten-sh.de http://progedenkstaetten-sh.de/wp-content/uploads/Euthanasiepredigt-v.-Bischof-von-Galen.pdf
Clemens August von Galen Frasi e Citazioni
Clemens August von Galen: Frasi in inglese
“And now go and serve your fatherland.”
von Galen, to the philosopher Josef Pieper when he went to say farewell to the bishop, having been drafted into the German army in 1943. Pieper remarked; I was somewhat baffled; it was a long time since I had heard such words, but on his lips they were by no means a mere pathetic cliché; he meant them in all seriousness;they were to be taken literally. See Beth A. Griech Polelle, Bishop Von Galen, p. 20.
The argument goes: they can no longer produce commodities, they are like an old machine that no longer works, they are like an old horse which has become incurably lame, they are like a cow which no longer gives milk.
Speech against Nazi euthanasia (August 3, 1941)
Speech against Nazi euthanasia (August 3, 1941)