Health, Hygiene and Eugenics in Southeastern Europe to 1945

Eugenic Birth Control and Prenuptial Health Certification in Interwar Greece

272 Sevasti Trubeta birth rates, birth control was broadly considered an imperative for population politics. In the first decades of the twentieth century, the best method for “thinking about population” was developed with the desire to improve the biological substance of the population, increasingly on an international scale.2 Ideas and experiences were exchanged internationally, especially regarding the rationalization of biological reproduction and the ubiquitous population question. Shared concerns and joint activities notwithstanding, each country was mostly concerned with its own betterment. This chapter is a case study and examines to what extent eugenic birth control was debated and implemented in Greece before the outbreak of World War II. The working hypothesis is that in Greece, demands for control over reproduction were to some extent associated with eugenic thinking , which penetrated scientific and political as well as public spheres. In the Greek case, eugenic ideas and proposals were embedded in social reformist projects. Essentially, eugenicists added their own perspective to contemporary developments concerning the establishment of social and welfare institutions across the country; eugenic conceptions of birth control responded to a generally recognized necessity for coping with the Greek population and social question, especially as these arose in the aftermath of the Balkan Wars and World War I. From the point of view of Greek eugenicists, the population question—one intimately connected to the social question—was closely associated with two major issues: “overpopulation ” and “social diseases.” This chapter argues that while experts were primarily concerned with the former issue, the preoccupation with social diseases and their intended eradication penetrated several sectors of society and involved intellectuals, politicians, feminists, activists and indeed, the national legislative body. Furthermore, given that “social diseases” were a matter not only for eugenicists but for anyone interested in social or public hygiene, this article traces the interface and differences between eugenic and hygienic reasoning. Within this general setting, the focus here is on 2 Rainer Mackensen, “Ursprünge, Arten und Folgen des Konstrukts ‘Bevölkerung’ vor dem ‘Dritten Reich,’” in Rainer Mackensen, ed., Bevölkerungslehre und Bevölkerungspolitik vor 1933 (Opladen: Leske und Budrich, 2002), 27–38; and Ursula Ferdinand, “Geburtenrückgangstheorien und ‘Geburtenrückgangs-Gespenster’ 1900–1930,” in Ursula Ferdinand and Josef Ehmer, eds., Herausforderung Bevölkerung. Zu Entwicklungen des modernen Denken über die Bevölkerung vor, im und nach dem ‘Dritten Reich’ (Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften , 2007), 77–98. 273 Eugenic Birth Control and Prenuptial Health Certification in Interwar Greece eugenic arguments for imposing birth control in Greece in addition to attempts to implement eugenic measures, health certification prior to marriage in particular. The “Social Question,” Overpopulation and the Regulation of Biological Reproduction While other European countries like Germany and France complained in the interwar period about a declining birth rate, a remarkable population growth in Greece was observed, owing primarily to the relatively high birth rate among the rural population. Following the 1912–13 Balkan Wars, the Greek population increased remarkably as a consequence of the annexation of new territories. Moreover, in the aftermath of the 1922 Greek military defeat suffered against Turkey, approximately 1,200,000 individuals (referred to as “refugees”) arrived from formerly Ottoman lands. At the same time, infant mortality, although considerable, was estimated to be manageable. Considering these developments, some of those engaged with the population question in Greece agreed that the country, with a population of approximately 5 million people,3 was overpopulated. This was mainly asserted on the grounds that the domestic resources were insufficient for nourishing the population on account of major deficiencies in the organization of society and the economy. This already problematic situation further deteriorated in the face of increasing urbanization, which went hand in hand with unemployment in the cities, as well as the decline of agrarian production in the countryside. These transformations had a corresponding impact upon social stratification; a working class was emerging and the middle class was growing.4 3 The Greek population was estimated in 1907 to be 2,631,952; in 1920 it increased to 5,016,889 and in 1928 to 6,204,684. 4 On the transformation of social stratification in Greece during the interwar period as well as the accompanying modernization of society and state institutions, see Γιώργος Μαυρογορδάτος, Χρήστος Χατζηιωσήφ, eds., Βενιζελισμός και Αστικός εκσυγχρονισμός (Heraklion: Πανεπιστημιακές Εκδόσεις Κρήτης, 1988); Κωστής Μοσκώφ, Εισαγωγικά στην Ιστορία του κινήματος της εργατικής τάξης. Η διαμόρφωση της εθνικής και κοινωνικής συνείδησης στην Ελλάδα (Athens: Καστανιώτης, 1988, 3d edition); Πέτρος Πιζάνιας, Οι φτωχοί των πόλεων. Η τεχνογνωσία της επιβίωσης στην Ελλάδα το μεσοπόλεμο (Athens: Θεμέλιο, 1993); Athanassios Alexiou, Zur Frage der Entstehung und Formierung der griechischen Arbeiterbewegung – Eine sozialhistorische Untersuchung (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1994). 274 Sevasti Trubeta The...