HA>At 05:52 PM 11/14/96 -0600, Nick wrote:
>
>>PS - Does anyone know if Hitler ever wrote or said, for example, the words
>>"Darwin" or "evolution" (refering to the science and not just meaning
>>"change"). Did he even read about it? The closest thing I've seen is that
>>Hitler read (misread) Nietzsche, and Nietzsche refers to Darwin and evoluti
>>in some of his writings. Thanks.
>>
Hitler did not act alone... thousands of Nazis implemented his policies
and millions acquiesced to their program.
Scripts of various Nazi propoganda films justifying the sterilization
and euthanasia of the insane and physically deformed utilized
evolutionary tenets coupled with "compassion" in an attempt to convince
the viewer that it was beneficial to eliminate some human beings from
the gene pool. I saw one in a recent documentary and some scenes took
place in a university classroom setting complete with a professor... the
point being made that the solution to the problem was consistent with
science and natural evolution. Once the populace accepted that it was OK
to kill off the "genetically inferior" (insane and physically deformed,
etc...) the Nazi strategy was to move on to the "final solution" i.e.
the Jews. By then the populace would generally accept the killing.
While we may not have a quote that Hitler embraced the words "Darwin" or
"evolution", the fruits of his government witness to the embrace of the
concept, albeit applied in a sinful and horrific manner. Whitewash it
any way we wish, a central theme in Nazi culture was the establishment
of a superior gene pool (race) utilizing breeding, eugenics, and
gene-pool cleansing.
The logic and reasoning that they used in the films is frightening. Nazi
Germany was simply implementing what nature has been allegedly doing for
millions of years... weeding out the genetically inferior. If the laws
of evolution did it "naturally", why should we object to it? After all,
it is completely natural and inevitable isn't it? The compassion came in
when they appealed to the emotion of the viewers by showing the
suffering and unhappiness of those who were genetically inferior, and
that it was appropriate to relieve them of their suffering.
If the removal of genetic inferiority from the German gene pool is an
abuse of evolutionary science, then evolution itself is just as abusive.
We hate to admit it but the processes and outcomes of evolution moved a
little too quickly and touched us a little too close for our liking in
Nazi Germany.
Paul Durham
"Nazi Germany was the inevitable result of good schooling" Dietrich
Bonhoeffer
to: IN:harper.10@osu.edu
cc: IN:evolution@calvin.edu