Category
Textual or Investigative
Description
The Nazi's campaign against the disabled was not spawned independently. Instead, they were the result of the continuous eugenic efforts under the Weimar republic. Influenced by the theories of Charles Darwin and Francis Galton, German biologists and eugenicists advocated for the implementation of these into German policy. With the collapse of living conditions after World War I and the subsequent rise of disability justified this expansion. Attempts to educate the population and integrate eugenic policies into German law formed the backbone of this period. Publications, such as those by Karl Binding and Alfred Hoche influenced Germans to operate within the eugenic sphere. The program stuck with preventing the spread of disability and never reached the extremes of the Nazi period. Yet they laid the foundation for what was to come.
Moving Toward Unworthy Life: German Eugenical Views Before 1933
Textual or Investigative
The Nazi's campaign against the disabled was not spawned independently. Instead, they were the result of the continuous eugenic efforts under the Weimar republic. Influenced by the theories of Charles Darwin and Francis Galton, German biologists and eugenicists advocated for the implementation of these into German policy. With the collapse of living conditions after World War I and the subsequent rise of disability justified this expansion. Attempts to educate the population and integrate eugenic policies into German law formed the backbone of this period. Publications, such as those by Karl Binding and Alfred Hoche influenced Germans to operate within the eugenic sphere. The program stuck with preventing the spread of disability and never reached the extremes of the Nazi period. Yet they laid the foundation for what was to come.
