The Lebensborn Project
The topic of eugenics cannot be discussed without encountering the Holocaust, but this is as it should be. When contemporary geneticists, genetics counselors and clinical geneticists wonder why it is that genetics receives special attention from those concerned with ethics, the answer is simple and can be found in history. The events which led to the sterilization, torture and murder of millions of Jews, Gypsies, Slavs and children of mixed racial heritage in the years just before and during the era of the Third Reich in Germany were rooted firmly in the science of genetics (Muller-Hill, 1988). Rooted not in fringe, lunatic science but in the mainstream of reputable genetics in what was indisputably the most advanced scientific and technological society of its day. The pursuit of genetic purity in the name of public health led directly to Dachau, Treblinka, Ravensbruck and Auschwitz. As early as 1931 influential geneticists such as Fritz Lenz were referring to National Socialism as "applied biology" in their textbooks (Caplan, 1992). As difficult as it is for many contemporary scientists to accept (Caplan, 1992; Kater, 1992), mainstream science provided a good deal of enthusiastic s
On May 1, 1945, the day after Hitler's death American troops marched into Steinhoering. Despite modern assumptions that, American interest in eugenics waned during the 1920s, researchers said sterilization laws had authorized the neutering of more than 40,000 people classified as insane ore feebleminded in thirty states by 1944. Forced sterilization was once legal in eighteen U. The most extreme form of encouraging eugenic mating was the Lebensborn program which gave money, medals, housing and other rewards to persuade "ideal" mothers and fathers to have large numbers of children in order to create a super-race of Aryan children (Proctor, 1988). Some argue that we lack the wisdom to choose well (Lewontin, 1992). Margaret Sanger, eugenics pioneer, and her followers made no secret about their desire to eliminate persons with disabilities and to combat those racial and religious groups she deemed "unfit. But, that hardly stops parents today from seeking to better the lot of their children through environmentally mediated efforts at enhancement. Most of the mothers and the staff had fled. Nazi race hygiene theories were false. Improvement of the genetic makeup of a population can be sought through negative or positive eugenics. Some of these children were war orphans, but it is well documented that many were stolen right from their parents' arms. Eventually, Himmler backpedaled, but never condemned illegitimacy outright. The steps they took to protect against the public health disaster of a 'polluted' racial stock were so awful, so immoral, and so heinous that they have rightly, shaped all subsequent discussion of the ethics of both human genetics and eugenics. Himmler himself took a special interest in the choosing not only the mothers, but also attending to the decor and even paying special attention to children born on his birthday, which was October 7th. Furnishings for the home were supplied from the best of the loot from the homes of Jews who had been sent to Dachau.
Common topics in this essay:
Third Reich,
Gypsies Slavs,
Greek Orthodox,
Eventually Himmler,
Reich Nazis,
Bremen Leipzig,
Nazi Germany,
Nazi Germany's,
Denmark Himmler,
German Lebensborn,
population eugenics,
future generations,
lebensborn homes,
public health,
caplan 1992,
negative population eugenics,
gene pool,
name eugenics,
children born,
negative eugenics,
third reich,
jews gypsies slavs,
pool future generations,
kevles 1995 nazi,
eugenics kevles 1995,
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Acceptance Essays
