Dozens of countries that prioritized science over human life for the “perfect race”, massacred thousands of people and sterilized them without their consent in the 1920s, making science once the blackest stain in history. Countries such as Germany, the USA, Italy and France became a supporter of the eugenics movement, prioritizing science over people at that time.
Eugenics, made to perfect the human race. It is described as one of the most brutal acts. This concept, which dates back to ancient times, was first put forward by Darwin’s cousin Francis Galton in 1883.
You can more or less guess what it means when we say perfecting the human race. tens of thousands just because the baby looks a little unhealthy slaughtered and people forcibly sterilized the “eugenics movement” Let’s look at the details together.
The eugenics movement, which was also practiced in civilized times, was followed by many countries in Europe.
As we mentioned before, the concept of eugenics was put forward for the first time in history by Francis Galton. In fact, until 1883 including ancient Greece and Egypt This method has been used in many parts of the world, but its name has never been described as eugenic.
Eugenics simply refers to the killing of people who are considered unhealthy or rotten in the human race. At the same time, this concept to the reproduction of unhealthy or bad individuals. opposes.
Even though he was his cousin, Darwin always opposed Galton’s ideas by finding them heretical and always argued that human life is more important than science. Galton also respected this view of Darwin and produced the concept of eugenics until he died. “Research on Human Faculty and Development” He didn’t share his book.
One of the first countries to embrace the eugenics movement was Germany, as you can imagine. Evolutionary biologist Ernst Haeckel was a close friend and supporter of Darwin. One of the first people to support the eugenics movement in Germany was one.
The Nazis rejected those who embraced the eugenics movement, despite following the same path as Haeckel
Haeckel, who soon became a major proponent of eugenics, became skeptical after the Nazis came to power. the execution of eugenic practices through various pretexts. provided. However, it is interesting that the Nazis stating that they did not sample He denied moving forward with Haeckel’s legacy.
Although their claims are in this direction, the first movement of the Nazis regarding the concept of eugenics “Law of Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring”” happened. Nearly 200 Hereditary Health Courts were established for sterilization of unhealthy and useless people and in line with this law, 400,000 people were sterilized without their consent.
Of course, Germany was not limited to this. Taking things one step further, on October 1, 1939, with the T4 Action (Tiergartenstraße 4), the disabled, 18,000 people who are mentally ill and incurable killed. These people perished in the gas chambers at the Hartheim Euthanasia Center by the brutal decisions of the Nazis. 18 thousand was, of course, the number of people killed in the first place. Nazis, Within the scope of the T4 action, over 70,000 people took his own life.
European countries such as Italy, England and France did not have any leftovers from Germany.
The eugenics movement, which started in the age of civilization, continued in Europe, and one of the first names outside of Germany was the former prime minister of Italy, Benito Mussolini. Mussolini, who took a step in Italy by adopting imperialist and fascist concepts, invaded Ethiopia in 1935 and killed 15 thousand people in total as part of the eugenic movement. Mussolini, who insulted Ethiopians for being black, Ethiopians feeling lucky to be ruled by a superior race like the Italians stated it should.
In France, the situation was not much different. In the 1900s, the French government gave the famous psychologist Alfred Binet a new task within the eugenics movement. Binet’s mission By separating the disabled children who come to the examination from normal children, a label is given to them, so to speak. was to wear.
Children born out of wedlock in the USA for a period were also subjected to the eugenics movement.
The eugenics movement was one of the most interesting points of academicians in America. Eugenics became a social movement that reached its peak especially in the 1920s and 1930s, with many communities across the country supporting this movement and on this issue. “American Eugenics Association” was established.
“Better family” and “better baby” More than 65,000 people in America at that time were sterilized without their consent because of such concepts. Children born out of wedlock and rape are also on America’s agenda. being killed while still in the womb took place. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Wendell Holmes has argued that instead of children who do not fit into society grow up needy, that it was a better option for them not to be born at all. made a number of statements.
Of course, the eugenics movement did not only consist of methods such as sterilization and execution. Many countries, especially Nazi Germany, tried to create their own perfect race.hundreds of experiments in laboratories performed. Although the eugenics movement was a concept followed in the 1920s, with the defeat of the Nazis, this movement began to lose its influence in many countries in the 1940s.