Eugenic sterilization advocacy preceded and was independent of antisemitic ideology

Evidence

Imperialist ideology reformulated Christian evangelism in secular terms. Much of it concerned the purported need to spread to the rest of the world not only the Gospel but the superior civilization of the West. And that civilization was, fatefully for the Jews, understood as the achievement no longer only of the Christian faith but also of the European “races.” It was not generally believed that the Jewish “race” was one of them. The relative absence of the Jews in the imperial enterprise made it easier to argue for excluding them, along with the “natives” of the colonies, from the benefits of the “Western” guarantees of liberty and equality, and indeed of residence in the West. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 135 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: American eugenics served as a model for Nazi Germany — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 4293; American eugenic sterilization laws preceded and outlasted Nazi-era ones; Nazi-era eugenics drew on mainstream scientific and modernist convictions (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• American eugenic and sterilization laws inspired German genocide planners #complicates (0.75)
• Secular imperial ideology racialized civilization in ways that excluded Jews #complicates (0.70) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 135