The Ovici (Ovitz) family

The Ovici or Ovitz family was the largest family to remain intact and survive Auschwitz due to Dr. Joseph Mengele's interest in the family because of their dwarfism, the type being pseudoachondroplasia.  They were the subject of Menegele's medical experiments from the moment of their arrival on May 12th, 1944.

Their approximate height was three feet. Due to their mother, Batia Ovici, the children had learned the skill of entertainment. They were known as the Lilliput Troupe, which performed musical routines and comedic sketches throughout Romania, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

When the racial laws were implemented in Transylvania in 1940, the Ovicis had obtained distinctive identification documents which did not specify their religion and therefore allowed them to continue their livelihood until March 1944.  The Ovicis were thus sent to Auschwitz.

In the May of 1949, they emigrated to Israel where the troupe was revived and continued to entertain and perform until retirement in 1955.

     

The photograph below is of a dwarf prisoner sent for execution. The fact that the Ovici family had survived intact and at all was extraordinary because dwarfs were seen as individuals with a physical disability, therefore "unfit for work" and murdered through the gas chamber, pogroms or euthanasia. 

  

Here are some links for further research: 

1. Ovici Family: 

http://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1144369

For information on Nazi Euthanasia I recommend:

1. Jewish Virtual Library: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/

2. Yad Vashem: http://www.yadvashem.org/

3. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: http://www.ushmm.org/

Thank you! 

Nazi Euthanasia

From their earliest days of power, beginning in 1933, the Nazis began to target minority groups like the mentally and physically disabled. Unable to fully provide and defend for themselves, the group which arguably needs the most support and protection from society, was murdered and robbed of their unalienable human rights.

In 1933, the "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring" and the "Law Against Dangerous Habitual Criminals" were introduced and enacted. These laws forced eugenics (sterilization) of an estimated 200,000 to 350,000 individuals by 1939 and made the definition and characterization of mental illness fuzzier.

Early forms of euthanasia included, the killings of deformed newborns by Karl Brandt, Philip Bouhler and Viktor Brack. By the summer of 1939, the 'Reich Committee for the Scientific Registering of Serious Hereditary and Congenital Illnesses' was established and all practitioners and midwives were required to report every case of "deformed" newborns.

In October of 1939, the slaughter of children expanded to the murder of adults. Killings took place in mobile killing buses, gas chambers and even shootings. The justification for these killings were to provide "mercy" for "life unworthy of life".

This is a typical Nazi propaganda poster. The photo shows a mentally of physically disabled child being held up by, what is assumed, their caretaker. This paints the image that they are a burden, not only to those who must care for them but for, German society as a whole. 

A group of mentally or physically disabled children awaiting to hear the verdict of their eugenics case at a German courthouse. 

  

Hadamar, one of the eugenic killing centers. 

One of the mobile killing buses. The victims were driven around the countryside and gassed to death. 

This is the last child murdered through euthanasia at the Kaufbeuren-Irsee euthanasia center. 

For a more detailed look into Nazi Euthanasia, I recommend: 

1. http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/euthan/index.html

2. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005200

3. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/t4.html

4. http://hmd.org.uk/education/case-study-t4-euthanasia-programme

Note: Thank you to the Holocaust Research Project for providing content for this article.