OUDC Social Justice Fellow Amir Nasser reported about the most recent session of the program, at which the Fellows delved deeply into the history of eugenics.On November 3rd, OUDC’s Social Justice Fellows learned about eugenics and how the doctrine was used to promote racism and antisemitism in the 20th century from Mr. Tom White, the coordinator of Educational Outreach for the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College. First coined in 1883 by Francis Galton, eugenics is the theory of arranging reproduction within a human population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable. This process of only breeding the “right” humans for the population eventually leads to severe discrimination against people with supposed “undesirable” traits. To identify which genetic traits were “desirable,” many pseudo-scientific medical procedures were conducted on Africans in Namibia to “prove” white superiority. Students listen to guest speaker Tom White, Coordinator of Educational Outreach for the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College. All Photo Credits: Kyla Floyd |
A brief timeline of events: in 1917, French IQ tests led to the belief that intelligence was inherited. Unintelligent people were classified (worst to best) as “idiot,” “imbecile,” and “moron.” While most intelligent of the “undesirables,” “morons” were seen as the worst because of how they could function in regular society, therefore passing on their genes to future generations. In 1927, a Supreme Court case, Buck v. Bell, ruled that some people could be forced to be sterilized, and that case has never been expressly overturned. In 1933, the Nazis considered using Jim Crow laws to control the Jewish population, but at first felt that those laws were too extreme for them. The Nazis ultimately began prosecuting Jewish people after Adolf Hitler read a pamphlet published by U.S. entrepreneur Henry Ford titled “The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem.” The pamphlet spread antisemitic propaganda, which inspired Hitler to kill Jewish babies that he deemed a “racial threat.” In 1939, he expanded this program to include teenagers. Students learn about the 10 stages of genocide from Assistant Director Xochi Cartland. We also learned about eugenics from OUDC Social Justice Fellow Elena Mandell, who had researched this topic independently. She described how the eugenicists classified some people as “unworthy of life.” In Germany, eugenics became popular amongst the Nazi party, and German geneticist Fritz Lenz suggested that up to 20 million Germans should be sterilized. Although they didn’t go through with this mass sterilization, it paved the way for the blatant disregard for human life seen later in the 1930s. Hitler had no regard for disabled humans either. Many were put to death after a couple of people would mark you with either “+” (put to death) or “-” (safe) sign. These doctors would lie and trick the parents into thinking that their child was getting a life-changing treatment when in reality they were just getting put to death.  OUDC Fellow Elena Mendel presents on eugenic practices under Nazi Germany. Overall, we learned about eugenics to understand the horrors of eugenics and how it has shaped our society. Now, we know eugenics is a form of pseudoscience that heavily discriminates against people for blatantly false reasons. There is no society where eugenics should be law, and we should be educated on eugenics so we can fight it if it emerges. |
Blog
Photography courtesy Lloyd Wolf / www.lloydwolf.com
© 2021. All rights reserved.