Goebbels: "Rendered Harmless"

On October 7, 1939, Goebbels referred to Jews as "cold predators which will have too be rendered harmless (cited by Friedländer, p.17)." In his Sportpalast speech of June 5, 1943, Goebbels returned to the phrase, stating "Should an individual have such criminal intentions, he will be rendered harmless as soon as he is noticed." Just so nobody should think this did not mean "killed", we can also note that the transport report for Kolomea to Belzec states that "Nonetheless, it can be assumed that at least two-thirds of the escaping Jews were shot or rendered harmless in some other way." Similarly, Stahlecker's report for Einsatzgruppe A states, "During the first pogrom in the night from 25 June to 26 June the Lithuanian partisans did away with more than 1,500 Jews, setting fire to several synagogues or destroying them by other means and burning down a Jewish dwelling district consisting of about 60 houses. During the following nights about 2300 Jews were made harmless in a similar way."

Thus did another killing phrase become established in the Nazi lexicon of hate.