This is Aiton Weinstein.

And I'm Naor Menninger, and you're listening to Two Nice Jewish Boys.

This podcast is made in collaboration with the Jewish Journal.

Check them out at Jewishjournal.com.

Also in collaboration with Arutscheva, Israel National News.com. If you'd like to

support the podcast, visit to njb.com slash donate.

We all want to be the best we can be. And of course, we want to surround ourselves with the best

of the best. But this seemingly positive motive has led some people to say and do some pretty

horrific things throughout history. The Greek philosopher Plato suggested selective mating

to breed a higher class of humans. In Sparta, counsel of elders inspected every child to determine if he or she was

fit to live. In early ancient Rome, fathers were expected to immediately kill their children

if they were disabled in any way. But it's not just ancient history. In the 19th and 20th century,

a new system of beliefs began to emerge, eugenics, the idea that through

selective breeding we can improve the genetic makeup of the human race. Sound familiar? But where did

eugenic thought originate? Professor Amir Taichur discusses exactly that in his new book, Social Mendelism, Genetics

and the Politics of Race in Germany, 1900 to 1948.

Professor Teichr is an assistant professor of history at the University of Tel Aviv.

His research is focused on Germany, eugenics, the development of modern biological thinking, racism,

and anti-Semitism, and the history of medicine. We are super thrilled to be joined today by Professor

Amir Tijer to talk about his new book and the history of eugenics, and hopefully maybe a little bit

about corona. Thank you for joining us. It's nice to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

So let's yeah, let's kick it off with just because it's so relevant and your study and

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