The Roots of Nazi Eugenics: Racism in the United States!

When you think of the holocaust, the first thing that probably comes to mind is something along the lines of "Those goddamn Germans... WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?" But what a lot of people fail to realize is that the holocaust was not the result of a racist Germany all on it's lonesome, but at least in part a product of the "eugenics" movement which was present around the world. So what role did racism in the US play in the eugenics movement? The answer is "a pretty big one". Woops, our bad.

Showing posts with label propaganda. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Eugenics Tree of SCIENCE!

While in truth eugenics really had no solid scientific backing, it appealed to many Americans because it was essentially scientific rationalization of racist views and prejudice. The above is an example of eugenics propaganda designed to emphasize the scientific element of eugenics that made it so appealing.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Sterilization Questionnaire

While this questionnaire promotes sterilization of the mentally unfit and is not necessarily, in itself, racist, it is a great example of how these practices of US eugenics were promoted and sold to the people. This questionnaire shows how people in the US tried to rationalize practices that we would recognize today as extremely immoral. Eugenics in Germany triggered similar measures of sterilization, isolation, etc, then took the movement a step further: euthanasia.