Nazi-era eugenics drew on mainstream scientific and modernist convictions

Evidence

The quoted scientists were guided solely by the commonly accepted understanding of the role and mission of science and by feelings of duty towards the vision of a good, healthy, and orderly society. In particular, they were guided by the typically modern and not in the least idiosyncratic conviction that the road to such a society leads through the ultimate taming of the inherently chaotic natural forces and by systematic, and ruthless if need be, execution of a scientifically conceived, rational plan. As was to transpire later, the admittedly unruly and anarchistic Jewry was one of the many weeds which inhabited the plot marked for the carefully designed garden of the future. But there were other weeds as well ~ carriers of congenital diseases, the mentally inferior, the bodily deformed. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 397 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

As Kallmann’s plan would require sterilizing no less than 18 percent of the total population, the author’s zeal had to be held back by his Gentile colleagues.) The quoted scientists were guided solely by the commonly accepted understanding of the role and mission of science and by feelings of duty towards the vision of a good, healthy, and orderly society. In particular, they were guided by the typically modern and not in the least idiosyncratic conviction that the road to such a society leads through the ultimate taming of the inherently chaotic natural forces and by systematic, and ruthless if need be, execution of a scientifically conceived, rational plan. As was to transpire later, the admittedly unruly and anarchistic Jewry was one of the many weeds which inhabited the plot marked for the carefully designed garden of the future. But there were other weeds as well ~ carriers of congenital diseases, the mentally inferior, the bodily deformed. And there were also plants which turned into weeds simply because a superior reason required that the land they occupy should be transformed into someone else’s garden. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 397 (#expands, via linked claim)

Measuring racial differences in intelligence is just one of the projects in this history; scientists have sought racial classification of human differences also in shapes of skulls, lips, noses, foreheads, pelvises, or sexual organs, in sensitivity to pain, in genetic or hormonal makeup, in skin color, hair texture, and yet other traits. It is disturbing to discover that such projects have been pursued by some of the most distinguished scientists using state-of-the-art methods for their day. Nor were these scientists disproportionately racist; many were among the most politically progressive figures of their day on race and gender issues. As historians have pointed out, Nazi eugenics programs were only following the lead of mainstream scientific research in the USA and elsewhere in Europe (Proctor, 1988). — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1563 (#corroborates, 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; Eugenic sterilization advocacy preceded and was independent of antisemitic ideology; Nazi eugenics emerged from modern scientific planning, not medieval barbarism — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 397 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Nazi racial policy grew from mainstream scientific rationalism, not fringe pathology #corroborates (0.97) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 397
• Nazi eugenics emerged from modern scientific planning, not medieval barbarism #expands (0.95) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 397
• Nazi eugenics followed mainstream American and European scientific practice, not fringe research #corroborates (0.95) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1563
• Eugenics enjoyed international prestige before the Nazis adopted it #corroborates (0.92)