{"product_id":"finding-ruth-a-personal-story-of-hitlers-secret-euthanasia-program-aktion-t4","title":"Finding Ruth:  A Personal Story of Hitler's Secret Euthanasia Program Aktion T4","description":"\u003cp\u003eRuth Rosa Luise MŸhlmann was 20 years old when she was killed at Bernburg Euthanasia Center on March 31, 1941, one of over 300,000 people with disabilities murdered by the Nazis.  The Nazi cover up of her death in their secret euthanasia program, Aktion T4, was so effective that it was not until 2018 that the truth was discovered. Ilka KnŸppel has carefully researched the history of her great-aunt Ruth and her family in Germany. Finding Ruth is the first victim memoir in English. This is important since the memory of the Nazi ÒeuthanasiaÓ is still obscure and largely forgotten outside the German-speaking world. A key contribution vicarious witnesses make beyond recovering the stories of individual victims is that they also bring the larger historical context to life. Ilka skillfully combines documentary elements with those of historiography, biography, and family memoir, connecting the story of multiple generations of an individual family to larger-scale, world historical events. But Finding Ruth is also a deeply personal and moving tribute. As Ilka emphasizes, this book is a communal effort: many of her relatives and friends, along with archivists and researchers in Germany and the US contributed to the making of this book. But it is first and foremost IlkaÕs dedication and unwavering determination that has brought this book into being. She has conducted a staggering amount of research, amassing hundreds of pages of documents and other materials pertaining to RuthÕs life and death. With Will Prunka, WWII expert, she traveled to Germany to visit archives and sites important to her familyÕs history. As a vicarious witness Ilka has inscribed herself into the text, telling the story of the research and writing process, connecting the past and the present and converting the silence surrounding Ruth and Aktion T4 into something tangible and present. This enables a belated process of mourning and recognition. \u003cbr\u003e\nFinding Ruth makes it clear why it is so important to remember this history. The reasons for the great silence surrounding Aktion T4 have not gone away. There is still a stigma attached to disability and mental illness, and eugenicist ideas continue to linger in our societies. IlkaÕs book is a valuable contribution to changing the narrative.  Follow the journey that crisscrosses the years and continents, delves into dusty documents, and pieces together bits and pieces of clues from various oral histories to unearth the true story of Tante Ruth., Aktion T4, Euthanasia, World War II, Germany, historigraphy, Disabilities, Ilka Knuppel| 9798992125306 | 234PAGES\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ilka Knuppel","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46767744352417,"sku":"9798992125306","price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0462\/1120\/3233\/files\/nvgze9k-front-shortedge-384.jpg?v=1785199306","url":"https:\/\/bookswholesale.myshopify.com\/products\/finding-ruth-a-personal-story-of-hitlers-secret-euthanasia-program-aktion-t4","provider":"BooksWholesale","version":"1.0","type":"link"}