[Vision2020] Eugenics in Nazi Germany.htm

[Pat Kraut]

Eugenics in Nazi GermanyOne More!
PK
Resources: Eugenics and the Nazis
Impartial information about eugenics is difficult to find on the Internet. A simple search for the word will produce a preponderance of politically and racially extremist sites, with a smattering of news articles that barely mention the term and heavily biased school reports. After exhaustive search, though, I have found a few sites that seem to approach eugenics from a highly objective standpoint. The Holocaust is, thankfully, usually treated from a much more mature standpoint, but I have found a few sites with a particular wealth of information on this difficult topic. I recommend the following sites for anyone doing research in either of these areas: 


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The Gene Letter
This electronic newsletter focuses on ethical, legal, and social issues related to advances in genetic science. It is sponsored by the Human Genome Project and the US Department of Energy. It seems to me to be educational, impartial, and fascinating. I highly recommend this site for anyone interested in the social implications of genetics. The February 1999 issue focuses on eugenics; at the time I write this it can be found on the front page, but may be found in the "Back Issues" section in the future.

http://www.geneletter.org/



Statement on Eugenics
The American Society on Human Genetics
The American Society on Human Eugenics is a professional membership organization of human geneticists in North America. It seeks to bring together workers in the various aspects of the field and provide a forum for sharing research findings. Their site links to a bounty of technical information about genetic research. Their official policy statement on eugenics reflects the contemporary viewpoint of the mainstream scientific community. It provides a brief but comprehensive historical summary of eugenics, as well as outlining the few eugenics-type programs which still exist in the world today.

http://www.faseb.org/genetics/ashg/policy/pol-30.htm



Bioethics.net
This site is run by the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Its expressed purpose if to advance public awareness and discussion of social and ethical issues related to health care. Several articles on the site discuss the relation of eugenics to current issues from a variety of different viewpoints. However, many of the articles seem somewhat biased, and not all sides of some issues are presented.

http://www.med.upenn.edu/bioethics/index.shtml



Cybrary of the Holocaust
A truly excellent site related to all aspects of the Holocaust. There are great amounts of discussion, documents, and primary sources. Images and information from the concentration camps and every aspect of the Nazi regime can be easily found. I highly recommend this site to anyone who is at all interested in the Holocaust. Searching for "eugenics" brings up many enlightening and disturbing documents about the Nazi policies.

http://remember.org/



The Nizkor Project
This site is dedicated to combating Holocaust "revisionism" and the denial that these atrocities occurred. Its multiple "Research Guides" cover both the facts of the Holocaust itself and the painful truth that many have denied its reality. This site makes, in my opinion, a noble effort to win people over with truth. I only wonder how effective it might be to those who seem to ignore all the evidence against them.

http://www.nizkor.org/



Internet Modern History Sourcebook: The Holocaust
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
This is part of the Internet History Sourcebooks Project, a truly excellent website for historical research. I have found it invaluable for research on numerous topics. It links to hundreds of different primary sources on almost any historical topic imaginable. Though it has little information on eugenics, its coverage of the Holocaust is comprehensive and extremely valuable. It covers the policies that led up to the holocaust, how it was carried out, and later reactions.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook44.html



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Jason Finney
May 1999
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