Nazism and race
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Nazis claimed to scientifically measure a strict hierarchy among races; at the top was the Aryan race (minus the Slavs, who were seen as below Aryan), then lesser races. At the bottom of this hierarchy were "parasitic" races, or Untermenschen, which were perceived to be dangerous to society. Lowest of all in the Nazi racial policy were Africans, gypsies and Jews.
Nazi theory said that because the nation was the expression of the race, the greatness of a race could be evaluated according to a race's ability and desire to acquire a large homeland. German accomplishments in science, technology, philosophy and culture were interpreted as scientific evidence to support Nazi racist ideology. Racial purity was seen as needed protection.
This set of claims grew out of a larger movement of Scientific Racism that developed out of a specific application of Darwinism. Scientific racism was taught at major universities in Europe and the United States through the 1930s.
Hitler never made any reference to the physical traits of the Aryan race. He himself didn't correspond to the common view of the aryan race (white, blond, with blue eyes).
Four books that claimed perceived racial difference was hierarchical and central to social order had a major influence on the trajectory of Scientific Racism, especially in Nazi Germany:
- Count Arthur de Gobineau’s 1853 The Inequality of Human Races (Tucker 1994; Poliakov 1974; Biddiss 1970);
- Francis Galton’s 1870 Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry into Its Laws and Consequences (Tucker 1994);
- Madison Grant’s 1916/1924 The Passing of the Great Race (Tucker 1994; Mintz 1985);
- Lothrop T. Stoddard’s 1920 The Rising Tide of Color Against White World Supremacy (Kühl 1994; Tucker 1994).
See also
References
- Biddiss, Michael D. 1970. Father of Racist Ideology: The Social and Political Thought of Count Gobineau. New York: Weybright and Talley.
- Kühl, Stefan. 1994. The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
- Lombardo, Paul A. 2002. "‘The American Breed’: Nazi Eugenics and the Origins of the Pioneer Fund." Albany Law Review 65:743–830.
- Mintz, Frank P. 1985. The Liberty Lobby and the American Right: Race, Conspiracy, and Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
- Poliakov, Leon. 1974. Aryan Myth: A History of Racist and Nationalist Ideas in Europe. New York, NY: Basic Books.
- Tucker, William. 2002. The Funding of Scientific Racism: Wickliffe Draper and the Pioneer Fund. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
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