Racial Science in Hitler's New Europe, 1938-1945

2. Preserving the “Master Race”

2 Preserving the “Master Race” ss Reproductive and Family Policies during the Second World War A M Y C A R N E Y OnOctober28,1939,Reichsführer-ss HeinrichHimmlerissuedanordertothe entireSchutzstaffel(thess)andpoliceinwhichheproclaimed,“Everywarisa bloodlettingofthebestblood.”1Whathereferredtowasnotjustthelossofthe men who had and would perish on the battlefield but also the absence of their unbornchildren.Havingspentthepastdecademoldingthess intoaracialelite dedicated to Adolf Hitler, Himmler now wanted to make sure that his efforts would not be undone by the Second World War. He sought to ensure that his ss men understood the gravity of the situation. The Thousand-Year Reich for which they now fought could not prevail without a strong biological legacy; a victory in the cradle had to be obtained simultaneously with a victory of arms. By emphasizing in his late October order the necessity of children for the future,Himmlersimplyreinforcedaconcepthehadlongbeenadvocating.Creatingraciallyhealthyfamiliesrepresentedanidealthathadunitedallss mensince theearly1930s.ThebasisforthisidealprimarilycamefromHimmler’sselective applicationofthethen-prominentdisciplineofeugenics.2Fortheprevioushalf century, eugenicists in Germany and elsewhere in the West had called upon Preserving the “Master Race” 61 governments and individuals to heed their advice about regulating marriage. They also advocated measures designed to limit the reproduction of “less” fit members of society while encouraging procreation among the “more” fit. Of the scientists who made specific suggestions as to how a state could manage theseprocesses,oneofthemostimportantwasthefounderofeugenics,Francis Galton. In 1865 he wrote an article outlining the prerequisites for founding a eugenic utopia.3 He suggested creating an examination that took into account everyimportantmentalandphysicalqualitythatapersoncouldpossess.Once youngmenandwomenhadpassedtheexamination,theywouldbeencouraged to select a marriage partner from among their peers. As a reward, these young couples would receive a monetary wedding present from their government, whichwouldpayforthemaintenanceandeducationoftheirchildren.Inreturn, these children would grow up to serve the state. Galton believed that such a system would improve the hereditary endowment of the population as well as best serve the needs of the state. Severaldecadeslater,in1913,CharlesBenedictDavenportwroteapamphlet describing the current status of biological research and how the information gathered from these investigations could be used to create appropriate laws to regulate marriages.4 He suggested that a state body should be founded that couldoverseeimplementationofthelaws,oncepassed.Toensurethescientific and legal credentials of its work, a biologist, a physician, and a lawyer would dedicate their services full-time to working for this body. Outside of this state office,individualphysicianswouldexaminecoupleswhowishedtowedaswell asscrutinizetheirfamilyhistories;ifsatisfiedwiththeassessment,thephysician wouldprovidethecouplewithamedicalcertificate,allowing themto proceed with their union. Beyond the work of Galton in Britain and Davenport in the United States, German scientists also promoted eugenic measures to regulate marriages and families. Among the works produced, none was as influential as the 1921 book GrundrissdermenschlichenErblichkeitslehreundRassenhygiene(Humanheredity andracialhygiene).5WrittenbyErwinBaur,EugenFischer,andFritzLenz,this book became the standard text on heredity and eugenics. Among the topics exploredinthebook,theauthorsputforwardproposalsdesignedtofortifythe healthofthepopulation.Amongthemwere maintainingmarriages,allocating monetary allowances for children, and convincing people that more than two children per marriage were needed to sustain the population.6 62 A M Y C A R N E Y These men represented just a few of the scientists who contributed to the diffusionofeugenicsandputfortheugenics-basedmeasuresdesignedtoregulate marriages and families. By the 1920s their ideas had not only permeated scientific literature but also popular culture. Himmler saw value in many of their ideas, and he implemented them in the ss to promote the creation of a self-sustaining biological elite. Throughout the 1930s he issued numerous guidelines to shape the sexual and reproductive choices of his men as they married and established families. However, Himmler was not the first person to insist on regulating the marital and reproductive decisions of a segment of the population. TheGermanSocietyforRaceHygiene(Deutschegesellschaft fürRassenhygiene),foundedin1905byAlfredPloetz,hadimplementedamarriagepledge .Itsmembers,whocamefromthewell-educatedupperandmiddle classes, agreed to submit to a medical examination before marrying; anyone who failed the examination promised to refrain from marrying and having children.7 This agreement among the members of the society was notable but extremely limited due to the small size of the organization. In contrast, with Ploetz’s guidelines, Himmler was the first person to apply eugenic measures to a large and selective group with the intention of fostering the growth of the population;hisattemptwasfarmoreambitiousthantheeffortsoftheGerman SocietyforRaceHygiene.Withextensiveoversight,hesoughtto haveeachss man, along with his wife and their children, become members of the ss family community (Sippengemeinschaft), an exclusive racial community within the larger national community (Volksgemeinschaft) that the Nazi Party wished to construct.8Representingthebiologicaleliteofthenation,thesemenandwomen were posited to serve as the vanguard of the Third Reich. Aftertheoutbreakofwarin1939,mostofthefamily-relatedmeasuresintroduced to the ss in the 1930s remained in place, even though many of them had tobeadjustedtofitthedemandsofthenewsituation.9Thesechangesincluded modifyingtheengagementandmarriageprocess,adoptingnewrhetoric,creating opportunities for ss...