Wooden office desk painted white and used at the Schwerin mental hospital during its operation as a Nazi-era euthanasia killing ward

Large writing desk used in the euthanasia center at the Schwerin mental hospital in Sachsenberg, Germany, by doctors and Nazi personnel between September 1941 and 1945. The desk and other furniture at the clinic were painted white to create the atmosphere of a normal hospital and not of a nursing home for incurables. The Schwerin Psychiatric hospital, which merged with the Lewenberg Children’s hospital, participated in a secret euthanasia operation organized by the Nazi government targeting children and the mentally and physically disabled. Between 1941 and 1945, approximately 300 children in residence in the Sachsenberg killing ward were murdered by starvation or lethal injection. The methods and implementation of the child-killing policy were left to each hospital; the children's ward at Schwerin was directed by Dr. Alfred Leu. The policy was issued by the Office of the Fuhrer as part of the plan to create a master race and to cleanse the German population of genetically diseased persons. The euthanasia program continued until the end of the war; it is estimated that 200,000 people were killed. No restrictions on access