UDLib/SEARCH
A state-funded collaboration between the Delaware Department of Education and the University of Delaware Library providing online magazines, journals, encyclopedias and training for all Delaware K-12 public schools
A state-funded collaboration between the Delaware Department of Education and the University of Delaware Library providing online magazines, journals, encyclopedias and training for all Delaware K-12 public schools
Delaware public school students should contact their classroom teacher or school librarian to obtain the UDLib/SEARCH username and password to access the UDLib/SEARCH resources in this guide.
Nazis, led by Adolph Hitler, attempted to create an Aryan master race. They utilized a multipronged approach to decrease the populations of those thought to be inferior people who contributed to societal ills, while simultaneously taking measures to increase the German population. These actions reflected the Nazi belief in the theory of Eugenics. Efforts taken to create a master race included the use of forced sterilizations, euthanasia, kidnappings, the establishment of the Lebensborn program, and the mass killings that occurred in the concentration and extermination camps.
Excerpt from Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race - U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
"From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany’s government led by Adolf Hitler promoted a nationalism that combined territorial expansion, claims of the biological superiority of an ‘Aryan master race,’ and virulent antisemitism. Driven by a racist ideology legitimized by German scientists, the Nazis attempted to eliminate all of Europe’s Jews, ultimately killing six million in the Holocaust. Many other people also became victims of persecution and murder in the Nazis’ campaign to cleanse German society of individuals viewed as threats to the ‘health’ of the nation."
Excerpts from Eugenics - U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
"Eugenics, or 'racial hygiene,' was a scientific movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For eugenicists, the social ills of modern society—criminality, mental illness, alcoholism, and even poverty—stemmed from hereditary factors. Eugenicists sought to discover ‘hereditary’ traits that contributed to societal ills, develop biological solutions to these problems, and campaign for public health measures to combat them."
Conclusion:
"Eugenic theory provided the basis for the 'euthanasia' (T4) program. This clandestine program targeted disabled patients living in institutions throughout the German Reich for killing. An estimated 250,000 patients, the overwhelming majority of them German “Aryans,” fell victim to this clandestine killing operation."
Excerpt from the Lebensborn Program - U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
In addition to wanting to remove those in German held lands who were deemed to be inferior, Nazis were concerned with Germany's declining birthrate. This led to the creation of the Lebensborn Program, "which encouraged the birth of children deemed ‘racially valuable’ in order to increase Germany’s ‘Aryan’ population...The Lebensborn program also became involved in the kidnappings of thousands of foreign children."
The Lebensborn Program and many other Nazi efforts were funded by Jewish homes that were looted.
Readings Detailing Methods Utilized to Create an Aryan Master Race:
Suggested Reading:
The Long Shadow of Eugenics in America - Gale General Onefile UDLib/SEARCH
Excerpt from Genocide - In Context High School UDLib/SEARCH
"Shortly after World War II, the United Nations Convention on Genocide (1948) defined genocide as 'any of a number of acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group,' either by killing members of the group or imposing conditions—not necessarily lethal—that would ultimately lead to the group’s extinction. The convention makes genocide—including any attempt, complicity, conspiracy, or incitement—a crime punishable under international law. More recently, scholars have expanded the scope of genocide in order to characterize victims not only by their nationality, race, or religious affiliation but by their political or social ideology as well."
Additional articles about genocide can be found by searching UDLib/SEARCH databases.
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