An attempt is made to explain the large regional differences that have been found in the infant mortality rate in Germany from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Data are from regional statistical offices and various family reconstitution studies. The socioeconomic, medical-ecological, and cultural factors contributing to infant mortality differentials are first analyzed. The role of differing attitudes toward human life and death is then considered. Two general attitudes, a "system of wastage and negligence" and a "system of conservation and respect for human life", are identified, and their origins are traced to religious differences and to traumatic events such as wars and epidemics.