Christopher Hutton identifies the central figures involved in the study of race during the Nazi regime, and traces continuities and discontinuities between Nazism and the study of human diversity in the Western tradition. Whilst Nazi race theory is commonly associated with the idea of a superior "Aryan race" and with the idealization of the Nordic ideal of blond hair, blue eyes and a "long-skull", Nazi race theorists, in common with their colleagues outside Germany, without exception denied the existence of an Aryan race. After 1935 official publications were at pains to stress that the term "Aryan" belonged to linguistics and was not a racial category at all. Under the influence of Mendelian genetics, racial anthropologists concluded that there was no necessary link between ideal physical appearance and ideal racial character. In the course of the Third Reich, racial anthropology was marginalized in favour of the rising science of human genetics. However, racial anthropologists played a key role in the crimes of the Nazi state by defining Jews and others as racial outsiders to be excluded at all costs from the body of the German Volk.
Anyone studying the Third Reich or who is interested in race theory will find this a fascinating, informative and accessible study.
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"Christopher Hutton’s new book is a masterful in-depth
study of the intricate connection between ideas, ideology, and
politics; a connection which in the case of German National
Socialism resulted in the most horrific crimes against
humanity."
Dov-Ber Kerler, Indiana University
"Race and the Third Reich shows all the marks of
intellectual distinction that we have now come to associate with
the work of Chris Hutton. He gives us a comprehensive coverage of
the subject, with a sharp eye for significant detail, debunking
notions about political control over ideological matters and
exposing the confusion which surrounded such key concepts as
'Aryan' and the 'Nordic ideal'. Readers who take Hutton as their
guide through this political, academic and linguistic maze will
learn a great deal about figures whom they have heard of only
vaguely as 'names', in the context of nineteenth- and
twentieth-century European history."
Roy Harris, University of Oxford
"Hutton’s book takes a fresh perspective on race and
Nazism. It probes into and presents a more sophisticated
understanding of the complex and partly contradictory intellectual
roots of Nazi ideology and its relationship to science, racial
anthropology and biology than its predecessors. Most importantly
Hutton shows convincingly and in fascinating detail how ideology
and science were separate and intellectual discourse much more in
line with international developments than commonly realized."
Peter Weingart, University of Bielefeld
1. Introduction.
2. Nazi Ideology: An Attack on Difference.
3. Peoples, Race, Genes.
4. Hans Günther and Racial Anthropology.
5. Racial Mixing or ‘Bastardization’.
6. The Myth of an Aryan Race.
7. Aryan, Nordic and Jew.
8. The Nordic Race and the German Volk.
9. Germany as Nordic Colony? Confusion and Anxiety Post-1933.
10. The Neutralization of Intellectual Diversity.
11. Dynamics of Nazi Science.
12. Nazism Beyond race.
Appendix I: Bibliographic names.
Appendix II: Biographical Sketches.
Appendix III: Nazi Legislation (Selected Examples).
References.
Index.
