Active Killing

[jaunis]

Hola a todos / Hi everybody

I'm still translating this ethics text, and I'm having some problem with the following sentence:

(talking about euthanasia in Germany under Hitler) In 1939 active killing replaced this passive killing. (passive killing = they were allowed to die by means of starvation)

Now, the problem is, in spanish "asesinato" or "matanza" have both some kind ethical meaning, they are both words that describe something "bad". Does that happens in english?

It's a text about ethics and christianity, and of course it has a strong point of view on euthanasia, but I don't want to change so much the meaning.

 

[Lerma]

Simply muerte activa. The problem with killing is that generally translates as matanza/asesinato. However there are definitions as: the act of terminating a life/an event that causes someone to die.Translating it as asesinato in this case could imply taking sides.