“Disposable Humanity” is a searing documentary that unearths one of the least acknowledged horrors of the 20th century, the Nazi Aktion T4 program. It’s a part of history that few know, and the film demands that the world finally confront the truth that before the industrialized murder of the Holocaust came the systematic extermination of disabled people. This documentary is at once horrific, informative, and oddly cathartic, unfolding the horrible truths that have been long buried in German history.
The Mitchells, a family of disability studies scholars and filmmakers, have been researching the T4 program since the 1990s. Their inquiry began almost by accident during an academic trip to Germany to present on American eugenics. There, they learned of a program ordered on Hitler’s personal stationery that authorized “mercy killings” of disabled individuals between 1939 and 1941, and where more than 300,000 people were murdered in hospitals, asylums, and institutions. Doctors and bureaucrats perfected the methods of deceptive mass killings through gas chambers that would later be used at Nazi death camps. The film’s thesis is chillingly clear: Aktion T4 was not an aberration, but a rehearsal for genocide.
The film unfolds as a thorough historical investigation that spans over 22 years of research and filming. The Mitchells interview memorial directors, disability activists, and descendants of T4 victims to shed light on the subject. Through these conversations, the film exposes not only the atrocities themselves but also the total erasure that followed. How could such a vast killing program remain obscured from collective memory for so long? How could so many perpetrators resume their medical careers after the war and do so without any repercussions?
The film refuses to treat these as mere historical curiosities and compares them to the ongoing struggle over who is deemed “worthy of life.” The Mitchells link the ideology of eugenics to modern debates around bioethics, selective reproduction, and institutional care. Their approach is reflective, guided by a deep compassion for the lives that history rendered disposable. The film’s power lies in its insistence that remembering is itself an act of resistance.
There is a lot of researched presented here. Archival footage and photographs are interwoven with quiet, present day images of memorials, empty hospital corridors, and the Mitchells’ own family gatherings. The style is contemplative and allows plenty of space for grief and reflection, which also means the pacing can sometimes feel demanding.
This is not an easy film to watch, nor should it be. The material is harrowing and the testimonies are absolutely gut wrenching. Yet beneath the horror runs a profound tenderness and a belief that love, knowledge, and remembrance can undo, in part, the dehumanization of the past. The film’s title takes on dual meaning, too. It condemns a society that once labeled certain lives “disposable” while celebrating the enduring humanity of those who refuse to forget them.
“Disposable Humanity” is not just a documentary but a moral directive, as it urges viewers to see remembrance as an ongoing duty to confront buried atrocities.
By: Louisa Moore
Screen Zealots 