Bethel under National Socialism

In the institution's own hospitals, Bethel doctors forcibly sterilised over 1665 women and men (as of 2023).

As early as the 1920s, there was an international consensus that the reproduction of people with supposedly 'inferior' genetic material should be restricted. On 1 January 1934, the "Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring" came into force in National Socialist Germany. Nursing staff or doctors were required to report potentially affected persons to the health authorities. Hereditary health courts then decided on applications for sterilisation. If there was a legally valid sterilisation order, the procedure had to be carried out - with physical coercion being used in the event of refusal.

Historians have been researching the forced sterilisations at Bethel since the late 1990s. Friedrich von Bodelschwingh the Younger was in favour of eugenics and racial hygiene, but he initially had reservations about the coercive nature of the law. The leading doctors almost unanimously welcomed the law and quickly participated in its implementation. Bethel obtained authorisation to carry out sterilisations in its own hospitals Gilead, Nebo and Dothan, including on citizens from the Bielefeld area.

In recent years, the operation books of the hospitals have been scientifically analysed. The diagnoses were mainly epilepsy, "feeblemindedness" and schizophrenia. In 13 cases (as of 2023), the sterilisation of a woman was associated with a termination of pregnancy. Six people (as of 2023) died in connection with forced sterilisation.