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

Nazi Eugenics Propaganda: One alcoholic will have 894 descendants in 83 years40 will live in poverty, 67 will be criminals, 7 murderers, 181 prostitutes, 142 beggars

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

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

Images/Propaganda 1919-1933
because God cannot want the sick and ailing to reproduce.

Life as a burden

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 experience! Racial pride fades

The entire countrys 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 Nazis began forced emigration of Jews in 1938 Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass) Nazi organized and sanctioned attack on Jewish property

Images/Propaganda 1933-1939

Examples 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 childrens 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

This poster (from around 1938) reads: "60,000 Reichsmark is what this person suffering from a hereditary defect costs the People's community during his lifetime. Fellow citizen, that is your money too. Read '[A] New People', the monthly magazine of the Bureau for Race Politics of the NSDAP."

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

Is it ethical (moral, right, good, fair) to prevent any person from becoming a parent?

If so, under what conditions?

 If so, under what conditions? (Race, sexual orientation, genetic disease/health, age, criminal history)

 Under those conditions, should sterilization be compulsory?

 Are human rights and privacy rights violated when the right to parenthood is denied?

 Should nations or states have the right to enact laws regarding compulsory sterilization?

Homework Assignment
What does Federal law say regarding reproductive rights? What does the Constitution say about reproductive rights? What does the United Nations say about reproductive rights?