Eugenics – “Racial Hygiene”

SCIENCE OF SALVATION(Weimar Eugenics 1919-1933)• 2 million German men were

killed in World War I• The “unfit” (mentally and

physically disabled) were being kept alive and were reproducing

• “Race mixing” causing “racial degeneration”

• Concerns about the passing on of undesirable traits through reproduction

Nazi Eugenics Propaganda: “One alcoholic will have 894 descendants in 83 years—40 will live in poverty, 67 will be criminals, 7 murderers, 181

prostitutes, 142 beggars

• Further concerns about the cost of care for those mentally and/or physically disabled

• The government was “throwing away money to support those less valuable to society”

• Fear for the survival of the “superior Aryan race”

“An entire healthy German family can live for one day for the same it costs to support a hereditarily ill person for the same amount of time”

Images/Propaganda 1919-1933

“Life as a burden”

“…because God cannot want the sick and ailing to reproduce.”

THE BIOLOGICAL STATE(Nazi Racial Hygiene 1933-1939)• The Nazi Party aimed to

strengthen the “national body” by eliminating “threatening genes” from the population

• Jews were purged from universities, scientific research, hospitals, and public health care

“Racial composition of Jews: The Jews are a mixture of alien Near Eastern, oriental, Hamite, and Negroid races”

• The entire country’s population was measured for hereditary/genetic make up

• Marital Health Law banned unions between “hereditarily healthy” and persons deemed genetically unfit

• Law for Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring made forced sterilization of those deemed “unfit” legal

“The experience! Racial pride fades”

• The Nazis began forced emigration of Jews in 1938

• Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass) Nazi organized and sanctioned attack on Jewish property

Images/Propaganda 1933-1939Examples of “acceptable” Aryan facial types

FINAL SOLUTIONS(Murderous Racial Hygiene 1939-1945)• Nazis began euthanasia

programs for the “undesirable”

• First victims were infants and children

• More than 5,000 boys and girls were killed

• Officials deceived the children’s families by providing falsified causes of death

Edith F. was a victim of the Nazi Euthanasia Program

The Nazi Regime award the “Cross of German Motherhood” to Aryan women who had several children. Bronze 4-5, Silver 6-7, Gold 8 or more

Images/Propaganda 1939-1945

Norbert P. was another child victim of the euthanasia program