Eugenic Sterilization Causes

Great Essays
One of the main causes of World War II can be traced back to the growth of eugenics on an intercontinental basis and movements based around the concept of a “pure” race, stemming from Sir Francis Galton’s theories on the various ways, “the English race might most easily be improved.” The newly found ideas of selectivity in the breeding of human beings is easily one of the most consequential breaks in the “monotony” that was the scientific community at that time. It provided a new perspective for citizens in different countries on why and how to preserve their nationalistic sense of decency. This, while an example of continuity on the pride an individual can have for their race, is also an example of a break in continuity, because eugenics, …show more content…
However, according to the paper Eugenics and the Third Reich, a counter argument of three points can be made, “[1] In 1925, eight years before Hitler came to power, a eugenic sterilization draft law was submitted, but failed to pass…[2] The German euthanasia program was instituted for economic reasons which bore no relation to eugenics…[3] Finally, the German sterilization program could in no sense be characterized as perverse, savage, or unusual for its time.” These points illustrate both the prevalence of sterilization laws around the world at this time (making Germanic eugenics a very prosaic practice) and the localization of German eugenics to the entirety of the country (shifting the blame from the Nazi party to a general social movement in Europe). Yet, it is very clear to recognize the widespread acceptance of eugenics and the ease with which Germany would have been influenced by the extremely forthright policies of the United States in this epoch. For example, “California passed its law in 1909, and established by far the world’s most aggressive program at the time, sterilizing more than 2,500 people in its first ten years - twenty times more than any other state.” The acclaim created by the United States over the use of eugenics made this sort of occurrence unremarkable on a global scale. “After 1927, this American technique of social engineering became the model for …show more content…
One such example is the funding of Nazism by the International Business Machines company Corporation (IBM), because Friedrich Zahn, president of the Bavarian Statistical Office, stressed the use of technology to identify Jewish peoples in Germany. Eugenics was cloaked in the name of statistics, and subsequently, IBM clamored to support Nazism because of the potential fiscal benefits of allying with the Third Reich. For example, “Just weeks after Hitler came to power, IBM NY invested more than 7 million Reichsmarks - in excess of a million dollars - to dramatically expand the German subsidiary’s ability to manufacture machines,”. The face of the IBM company at that time was businessman Thomas J. Watson, who turned a blind eye to any and all anti-Semitic brutality, such as, “In July 1935. Watson visited Berlin. That July, Nazi thugs ran wild in the streets of Berlin smashing the windows of fashionable Jewish stores,”. In his efforts to retain the wealth obtained from the company’s second most important customer, Nazi Germany, Thomas Watson denied any and all responsibility for what was occurring in Germany, despite the horror of the resulting Holocaust. A summation of Watson’s relationship with Nazi Germany can be encapsulated in the quote, “Even as he continued as a statesman of American capitalism and a bulwark of international commerce, Watson would become a hero in Nazi Germany - both to the common

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