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'''Nazi eugenics''' were [[Nazi Germany]]'s [[Nazism and race|racially-based]] social policies that placed the improvement of the [[Race (classification of human beings)|race]] through [[eugenics]] at the center of their concerns and targeted those [[human]]s they identified as "[[life unworthy of life]]" ([[German language|German]] ''Lebensunwertes Leben''), including but not limited to the [[Crime|criminal]], [[Degenerate (humans)|degenerate]], [[Gleichschaltung|dissident]], [[feeble-minded]], [[History of gays in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust|homosexual]], [[Laziness|idle]], [[insane]], [[Nazism and religion|religious]], and [[Fatigue (medical)|weak]], for elimination from the chain of [[heredity]]. More than 400,000 people were [[compulsory sterilization|sterilized against their will]], while 70,000 were killed in the [[Action T4]].<ref>[[Ian Kershaw]], ''Hitler: A Profile in Power'', Chapter VI, first section (London, 1991, rev. 2001)</ref> |
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== Hitler's views on eugenics == |
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[[Adolf Hitler]] had read some racial-hygiene tracts during his period of [[prison|imprisonment]] in [[Landsberg Prison]]. The future leader considered that [[Germany]] could only become strong again if the state applied to German society the basic principles of [[racial hygiene]] and [[eugenics]]. Hitler believed the nation had become weak, corrupted by the infusion of degenerate elements into its bloodstream.{{Fact|date=September 2007}} In his opinion, these had to be removed as quickly as possible. He also believed that the strong and the racially pure had to be encouraged to have more children, and the weak and the racially impure had to be neutralized by one means or another. |
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The concepts of racist ideas of competition, termed [[social Darwinism]] in 1944, were discussed by European scientists, and also in the Vienna press during the 1920s, but how exactly Hitler picked up these ideas is uncertain.<ref>Dónal P O'Mathúna: "[http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1484488 Human dignity in the Nazi era: implications for contemporary bioethics]", ''[[BMC Med Ethics]]'' 2006. online March 14, 2006 {{en icon}}</ref> In 1876, [[Ernst Haeckel]] had discussed the selective [[infanticide]] policy of the Greek city of ancient [[Sparta]].<ref>{{cite web |first= |last= |authorlink= |author=[[Ernst Haeckel|Haeckel, Ernst]] |coauthors= |title=The History of Creation, vol. I |url=http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/Germany/Radical%20Ecology.htm#EUGENICS%20JUSTIFIED%20BY%20NATURE |format= |work= |publisher=New York: D. Appleton |id= |pages=p. 170 |page= |date=1876 |accessdate= |language=English |quote=Among the Spartans all newly born children were subject to a careful examination or selection. All those that were weak, sickly, or affected with any bodily infirmity, were killed. Only the perfectly healthy and strong children were allowed to live, and they alone afterwards propagated the race.}}</ref> In his [[Zweites Buch|''Second Book'']], which was kept unpublished during [[Nazi Germany]], Hitler also praised Sparta, adding that this was because he considered Sparta to be the first "[[Völkisch]] State". He endorsed what he perceived to be an early [[eugenics]] treatment of deformed children: |
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<blockquote> |
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''Sparta must be regarded as the first Völkisch State. The exposure of the sick, weak, deformed children, in short, their destruction, was more decent and in truth a thousand times more humane than the wretched insanity of our day which preserves the most pathological subject, and indeed at any price, and yet takes the life of a hundred thousand healthy children in consequence of birth control or through abortions, in order subsequently to breed a race of degenerates burdened with illnesses.''<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Adolf Hitler|Hitler, Adolf]] |title=[[Hitler's Secret Book]] |year=1961 |publisher=Grove Press |location=New York |language=English |isbn=0394620038 |oclc=9830111 |pages=17–18 |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Hawkins, Mike |title=Social Darwinism in European and American Thought, 1860-1945: nature as model and nature as threat |year=1997 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |language=English |isbn=052157434X |oclc=34705047 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=SszNCxSKmgkC&pg=PA276&dq=Hitler%27s+Secret+Book+sparta&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=q5g40V7M6bHFNX8pm4ZD65FxH6s#PPA276,M1 |page=276}}</ref></blockquote> |
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== Nazi eugenics program == |
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[[Image:EnthanasiePropaganda.jpg|thumb|right|Propaganda for Nazi Germany's [[T-4 Euthanasia Program]]: "This person suffering from hereditary defects costs the community 60,000 Reichsmark during his lifetime. Fellow German, that is your money, too."]] |
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{{further|[[Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring]] and [[Action T4]]}} |
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The Nazis based their eugenics program on the United States' programs of forced sterilization.<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/09/ING9C2QSKB1.DTL Eugenics and the Nazis - the California connection<!--Bot-generated title-->]</ref> |
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The [[Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring]], proclaimed on [[July 14]], [[1933]] required [[physician]]s to register every case of hereditary illness known to them, except in women over forty-five years of age. Physicians could be fined for failing to comply. In [[1934]] the first year of the Law's operation, nearly 4,000 people appealed against the decisions of [[Sterilization (surgical procedure)|sterilization]] authorities. 3,559 of the appeals failed. By the end of the Nazi regime, over 200 Hereditary Health Courts (Erbgesundheitsgerichten) were created, and under their rulings over 400,000 people were sterilized against their will.<ref>Robert Proctor, ''Racial Hygiene: Medicine Under the Nazis'' (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988): 108.</ref> |
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===Nazi eugenics institutions=== |
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{{further|[[Hadamar Clinic]] and [[Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics]]}} |
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The [[Hadamar Clinic]] was a [[mental hospital]] in the German town of [[Hadamar]], which was used by the Nazis as the site of their T-4 Euthanasia Program. The [[Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics]] was founded in 1927. In its early years, and during the Nazi era, it was strongly associated with theories of eugenics and racial hygiene advocated by its leading theorists [[Fritz Lenz]] and [[Eugen Fischer]], and by its director [[Otmar von Verschuer]]. Under Fischer, the sterilization of so-called [[Rhineland Bastard]]s was undertaken. |
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== Further reading == |
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===Books=== |
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*Aly, G. (1994). ''Cleansing the Fatherland : Nazi Medicine and Racial Hygiene''. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-4824-5 |
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*Baumslag, N. (2005). ''Murderous Medicine : Nazi Doctors, Human Experimentation, and Typhus''. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0-275-98312-9 |
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*Burleigh, M. (1991). ''The Racial State : Germany 1933-1945''. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-39802-9 |
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*Burleigh , M. (1994). ''Death and Deliverance : 'Euthanasia' in Germany, c.1900 to 1945''. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-41613-2 |
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*Ehrenreich, Eric. ''The Nazi Ancestral Proof: Genealogy, Racial Science, and the Final Solution''. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-253-34945-3 |
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*[[Henry Friedlander|Friedlander, H.]] (1995). ''The Origins of Nazi Genocide. From Euthanasia to the Final Solution''. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-2208-6 |
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*Kuntz, D. (2006). ''Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race''. The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-2916-1 |
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*Lifton, R. (1986). ''[http://www.holocaust-history.org/lifton/ THE NAZI DOCTORS : Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide]''. ISBN 0-465-04905-2 |
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*Proctor, R. (2003). ''Racial Hygiene : Medicine Under the Nazis''. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-74578-7 |
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*Spitz, V. (2005). ''Doctors from Hell : The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans''. Sentient Publications. ISBN 1-59181-032-9 |
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*Weikart, R. (2006). ''[http://www.darwintohitler.com/ From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, And Racism in Germany]''. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-4039-7201-X |
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* Weindling, P.J. (2005). ''Nazi Medicine and the Nuremberg Trials : From Medical War Crimes to Informed Consent''. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-4039-3911-X |
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* Weindling, P.J. et al. (1989). ''Health, Race and German Politics between National Unification and Nazism, 1870-1945''. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-42397-X |
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* Kuhl, S. (2002). ''The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism'' Oxford University Press ISBN 0195149785 |
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===Academic articles=== |
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* Bachrach, S. (2004). [http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/351/5/417?ijkey=e7e2d03f145e62a1e1b1a3e99e3d7d69492ee07d&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha "In the name of public health—Nazi racial hygiene"]. ''[[New England Journal of Medicine]]'', 29 July 2004; 351: 417–420. |
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*Biddiss M. (1997). [http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1296317&blobtype=pdf "Disease and dictatorship: the case of Hitler's Reich"] ''[[Royal Society of Medicine|Journal of Royal Society of Medicine]]'', 1997 Jun; 90(6): 342-6. |
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*Cranach, M. (2003). [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12817666&dopt=Abstract "The killing of psychiatric patients in Nazi Germany between 1939-1945"]. ''[[The Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences]]'', 2003; 40(1): 8-18; discussion 19-28. |
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*Lerner, B. (1995). [http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/122/10/793 "Medicine and the Holocaust: Learning More of the Lessons"] ''[[Annals of Internal Medicine]]'', 15 May 1995; 122: 10: 793–794. |
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*Martin III, Matthew D., "The Dysfunctional Progeny of Eugenics: Autonomy Gone AWOL", Cardozo Journal of International Law, Vol. 15, No. 2, Fall 2007, pp. 371-421, ISSN 1069-3181. |
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*O'Mathúna, D. (2006). [http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=16536874 "Human dignity in the Nazi era: implications for contemporary bioethics"]. ''[[BioMed Central]]'', 2006 Mar 14;7(1):E2. |
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*Sofair, A. (2000). [http://www.annals.org/cgi/reprint/132/4/312.pdf "Eugenic sterilization and a qualified Nazi analogy: the United States and Germany, 1930-1945"]. [[National Center for Biotechnology Information]] 2000 Feb 15; 132(4): 312-9. |
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*Strous, R. D. (2006). [http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/163/1/27 "Nazi Euthanasia of the Mentally Ill at Hadamar"]. ''[[American Journal of Psychiatry]]'', January 2006; 163: 27. |
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*Weigmann, K. (2001). [http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=11600445 "The role of biologists in Nazi atrocities: lessons for today’s scientists"]. ''[[European Molecular Biology Organization]]'', 15 October 2001; 2(10): 871–875. |
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*[http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/index2.html?tag=1901 "Eugenical Sterilization in Germany"] ''Eugenical News'' 1933, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; vol.18:5. |
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== Videos == |
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*Burleigh, M. (1991). ''Selling Murder: The Killing Films of the Third Reich''. London: Domino Films. |
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*Michalczyk, J.J. (1997). ''Nazi Medicine: In The Shadow Of The Reich''. New York: First-Run Features. |
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== See also == |
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{| width="100%" |
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| |
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*[[Aryan race]] |
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*[[Compulsory sterilization]] |
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*[[Doctors' Trial]] |
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*[[Eugenics in Japan]] |
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*[[Genocide]] |
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*[[German Blood Certificate]] |
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*[[The Holocaust|Holocaust]] |
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*[[Lebensborn]] |
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| |
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*[[Nazi human experimentation]] |
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*[[Nazism and race]] |
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*[[Nordic theory]] |
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*[[Nur für Deutsche]] |
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*[[Nuremberg Trials]] |
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*[[Mischling]] |
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*[[Racial policy of Nazi Germany]] |
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| |
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*[[Racial purity]] |
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*[[Reich Citizenship Law]] |
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*[[Scientific racism]] |
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*[[Second-class citizen]] |
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*[[Social Darwinism]] |
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*[[State racism]] |
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|} |
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== References == |
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{{reflist|2}} |
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== External links == |
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{{Portal|Genocide|GenocidePortalLogo(ESR)2.JPG}} |
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;General reference |
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*[http://www.jlaw.com/Articles/NaziMedEx.html Ethics Of Using Medical Data From Nazi Experiments] |
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*[http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/mord.htm Life Unworthy of Life] |
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*[http://remember.org/educate/medexp.html Medical Experiments of the Holocaust and Nazi Medicine] |
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*[http://www3.georgetown.edu/research/nrcbl/hsbioethics/units/cases/unit4_5.html Nazi Eugenics Programs] |
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*[http://www.shoaheducation.com/pNEW.html#race Nazi Race Laws] |
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*[http://www.facinghistorycampus.org/campus/rm.nsf# Race and Membership: The Eugenics Movement] |
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*[http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=615 Sterilization Law in Germany] |
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*[http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/euthanasia.htm The History Museum - Nazi Euthanasia] |
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*[http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/PEOPLE/USHMMHAN.HTM Victims of the Nazi Era] |
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;United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |
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*[http://www.ushmm.org/research/library/bibliography/index.php?content=handicapped&print=n Bibliography] |
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*[http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/deadlymedicine/ Deadly medicine] |
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*[http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/index.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005200 Euthanasia program] |
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*[http://www.ushmm.org/education/foreducators/index.php?content=/education/resource/handic/handicapped.php%3fmenu=/export/home/www/doc_root/education/foreducators/include/menu.txt%26bgcolor=CD9544 Mentally and physically handicapped] |
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*[http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/disabilities_02/ Nazi Persecution of the Disabled] |
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{{Nazism}} |
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[[Category:Nazi eugenics| ]] |
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[[Category:Nazi physicians| ]] |
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[[de:Eugenik]] |
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[[es:Eugenesia nazi]] |
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[[fr:Eugénisme sous le nazisme]] |
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[[it:Eugenetica nazista]] |
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