Bad Blood: Rassenhygiene

Discovery

BBC

Science

4.3 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the name of eugenics, the Nazi state sterilised hundreds of thousands against their will, murdered disabled children and embarked on a programme of genocide.

We like to believe that Nazi atrocities were a unique aberration, a grotesque historical outlier. But it turns out that leading American eugenicists and lawmakers like Madison Grant and Harry Laughlin inspired many of the Nazi programmes, from the mass sterilisation of those deemed ‘unfit’ to the Nuremberg laws preventing the marriage of Jews and non-Jews. Indeed, before World War Two, many eugenicists across the world regarded the Nazi regime with envious admiration.

The Nazis went further, faster than anyone before them. But ultimately, the story of Nazi eugenics is one of international connection and continuity.

With contributions from Prof Stefan Kühl from the University of Bielefield, Prof Amy Carney from Penn State Behrend, Dr Jonathan Spiro from Castleton University, Prof Sheila Weiss from Clarkson University and Dr Barbara Warnock from the Wiener Holocaust Library

(Photo: German women carrying children of an alleged aryan purity in a Lebensborn selection centre, births by eugenicists methods during World War Two. Credit Keystone-France Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to introduce myself.
0:03.6	My name's Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC Commissioner for a load of sport podcasts.
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0:12.2	pundits and the biggest sport stars.
0:14.3	Together we bring you untold stories and fascinating insights straight from the players'
0:18.5	mouths.
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0:28.8	dedicated sports fans across the UK.
0:31.3	So if you like this podcast, head over to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more.
0:35.8	Love, Genessa, a brand new true crime podcast from the BBC World Service and CBC podcasts.
0:42.9	It's a story about love, deceit and survival and it's available now.
0:47.9	Find out more at the end of this podcast.
0:53.1	This is Discovery from the BBC World Service.
0:55.7	I'm Adam Rutherford and you're listening to Bad Blood, The Story of Eugenics.
1:04.6	From its origins in Victorian Britain to the gates of Auschwitz, this is the story of an
1:09.9	idea which runs through the worst atrocities of the 20th century, an idea that echoes
1:15.3	through the decades and resonates today.
1:18.8	This is The Story of Eugenics.
1:28.8	In this series so far we've explored the emergence of Eugenics in Victorian Britain and how
1:34.5	this new, scient-ified movement, turbocharged political ideologies of the day, white supremacy,
1:41.6	ableism, racism.
	...

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