Nazi Eugenics
Eugenics is the idea that a population can be improved through controlled selective breeding. The National Socialist Regime (Nazis) strove to rid Germany of disorders such as schizophrenia, epilepsy, genetic blindness or deafness, and severe physical deformities, along with other mental disorders. The first step of Nazi eugenics took place in 1934 was that of sterilizing the "feeble-minded." This law set up hereditary health courts that deemed whether or not a person should be sterilized, and was presided over by two doctors and a lawyer. The law that allowed for this forced sterilization was quickly followed by another that prevented marriages without a certificate from the public health office that claimed the couple would not produce genetically unhealthy children. If someone wanted to be married and did not receive a certificate, that person could volunteer for sterilization, and then be married. Along with the goal of a race free from mental and physical illness, Nazi Germany tried to move towards their idea of a "master race." According to Nazi racial theory, there are subtypes of caucasians, and the pinnacle of these were the Nordic Caucasians, or Aryans, followed by Alpine and then Mediterranean Caucasians. The Nordic group was defined by physical characteristics including height, blonde, red, or light brown hair with blue, green or gray eyes. Alpines were shorter with darker hair and eyes. Jews were at the bottom of the list, a combination of Arabs, Asians, and Africans, and viewed as the enemies of the Aryans. The most populous of the racial groups was the Alpines, and this was blamed on the presence of African Germans and other degenerate races, like Jews and Gypsies (Roma). To achieve racial hygiene, intermarrying with Jews or the genetically unfit was made illegal. Hitler and his chancellery hoped that by not allowing reproduction with "degenerate races" would ultimately produce more Nordic Caucasians. Also, following forced sterilization, deformed children and eventually adults were euthanized. In 1933, Hitler had said that euthanasia was too extreme, but later posters portraying handicapped people as a burden on society and taxpayers made euthanasia more allowable in the public mind. This eugenics movement in Germany eventually became the T-4 Program, and then the Final Solution. To summarize, Nazi eugenics were aimed at the elimination of physical and mental disorders while also controlling which people reproduced so that Hitler could have his "master race," the Aryans.
For more information, look at:
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007057
http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/topics_fs.pl?theme=41
http://alphahistory.com/nazigermany/nazi-eugenics/
http://www.thebreman.org/exhibitions/online/1000kids/racialtheory.html
For more information, look at:
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007057
http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/topics_fs.pl?theme=41
http://alphahistory.com/nazigermany/nazi-eugenics/
http://www.thebreman.org/exhibitions/online/1000kids/racialtheory.html