Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring
Within the same month of signing the concordat, the Nazis promulgated their sterilization law – the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring – a policy the Catholic Church considered deeply offensive. Days later, moves began to dissolve the Catholic Youth League. Clergy, religious sisters, and lay leaders began to be targeted, leading to thousands of arrests over the ensuing years, often on trumped up charges of currency smuggling or "immorality". Priests were watched closely and frequently denounced, arrested and sent to concentration camps. From 1940, a dedicated Clergy Barracks had been established at Dachau concentration camp. Intimidation of clergy was widespread. Cardinal Faulhaber was shot at. Cardinal Innitzer had his Vienna residence ransacked in October 1938, and Bishop Sproll of Rottenburg was jostled and his home vandalised.