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Aryan Blood:” Seroanthropology in Weimar and National Socialist Germany

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Aryan Blood:” Seroanthropology in Weimar and National Socialist Germany THE SEARCH FOR “ARYAN BLOOD:” SEROANTHROPOLOGY IN WEIMAR AND NATIONAL SOCIALIST GERMANY A dissertation submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Rachel E. Boaz August, 2009 Dissertation written by Rachel E. Boaz B.A., Miami University, 1999 M.A. Ursuline College, 2003 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2009 Approved by __________________________________, Chair, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Richard A. Steigmann-Gall __________________________________, Members, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Shelley O. Baranowski __________________________________, Elizabeth M. Smith-Pryor __________________________________, David H. Kaplan Accepted by __________________________________, Chair, Department of History John R. Jameson __________________________________, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences John R. Stalvey ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...............................................................................................................v CHAPTER Page I INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 II BLOOD RHETORIC AND THE EMERGENCE OF BLOOD SCIENCE ..........15 “Contagious Blood” in German Fiction and Early Blood Science ........................18 Origins of Serology ................................................................................................26 The Völkisch Notion of “Blood Defilement” ........................................................30 Seroanthropology ...................................................................................................39 Jewish Physicians and Blood Science ...................................................................50 Postwar Blood Science .........................................................................................55 III SEROANTHROPOLOGY IN EARLY WEIMAR: BLOOD, RACE AND EUGENICS ......................................................................................61 Verzár and Weszeckzy: Seroanthropological Research in Hungary ....................62 Surveying “Native Germans” ................................................................................71 Blood Type and Genetic Inferiority .......................................................................88 Völkisch Research .................................................................................................96 IV ORGANIZING SEROANTHROPOLOGY IN GERMANY: ESTABLISHMENT OF THE GERMAN INSTITUTE FOR BLOOD GROUP RESEARCH ...........................................................................106 Otto Reche and Racial Anthropology ..................................................................108 The German Institute for Blood Group Research ................................................118 V SEROANTHROPOLOGY AT ITS HEIGHT: DISTINGUISHING THOSE WITH “PURE BLOOD” ........................................................................126 Studies of “Native Germans” ...............................................................................134 Biased Research ...................................................................................................148 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) CHAPTER Page VI THE JEW AS EXAMINER AND EXAMINED IN SEROANTHROPOLOGY ..................................................................................181 Manoilov’s “Serochemistry” and Jewish Blood ..................................................189 Seroanthropologic Analysis of Jews ....................................................................192 Völkisch Propaganda ...........................................................................................205 Jews and Seroanthropology .................................................................................209 VII BLOOD AS METAPHOR AND SCIENCE IN THE NUREMBERG RACE LAWS ............................................................................224 Seroanthropology in 1933 ....................................................................................226 Proponets of Seroanthropology............................................................................232 Racial “Reform” under Nazism ...........................................................................235 “Blood Defilement” .............................................................................................244 Seroanthropologic Research in the Third Reich ..................................................257 The German Institute for Blood Group Research ................................................261 VIII THE PEDAGOGY AND PRACTICE OF SEROANTHROPOLOGY IN WORLD WAR II GERMANY ......................................................................277 Seroanthropology and National Socialist Medicine ............................................282 Seroanthropologic Research ................................................................................289 Seroanthropology and Nazi Racial Ideology .......................................................297 Clinical Serology .................................................................................................309 IX CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................327 WORKS CITED ..............................................................................................................338 iv LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE Page 1 “Bloodletting Man” ................................................................................................21 2 Graph of Hirszfeld’s biochemical race index ........................................................46 3 Map of Hungary showing Budapest, Szeged, and the Danube and Tisza Rivers ..65 4 Map of Weimar German showing the different regions referenced in Seroanthropologic research ....................................................................................76 5 Steffan’s depiction of the Atlantic “type A” pole in northern Germany ...............81 6 Steffan’s depiction of the Gondwanic “type B” pole in Peking ............................82 7 Otto Reche ...........................................................................................................123 8 Photograph of researcher drawing a blood sample from a child’s ear .................136 9 Map detailing the six cities near Frankfurt am Main surveyed by H. Schlossberger et al. in their 1928 study ...............................................................138 10 Map of Germany in 1930 showing regions discussed in articles.........................141 11 Diagram of facial shapes to aid examiners in shape classification from German Institute for Blood Group Research .......................................................153 12 Profiles showing long, medium, and short skulls from German Institute for Blood Group Research ....................................................................153 13 Diagram to help determine eye color ...................................................................154 14 Searching for correlations: A detailed graph by Paul Steffan comparing the blood types and eye colors of 256 subjects. ..................................................160 v LIST OF FIGURES (continued) Figure Page 15 Map by Paul Steffan showing Hirszfeld’s biochemical racial indices throughout Europe as of 1927 ..............................................................................169 16 Karl Landsteiner...................................................................................................200 17 Ludwig Hirszfeld .................................................................................................215 18 The blood types O, A, and B in “humans and several other primates” according to Landsteiner and Miller ....................................................................220 19 World map showing distribution percentages of type A blood ...........................230 20 Chart for the Nuremberg Laws, from the Reich Ministry of the Interior, showing the proportion of “German” or “Jewish” blood that determined an individual’s racial classification ......................................................................252 21 All articles of original research on blood group distribution, 1919 – 1939 .........271 22 Lebensraum; plans and projects for German expansion in the East ....................307 23 “Donor-on-the-hoof” system: possible placements of donor giving blood To recipient ..........................................................................................................315 24 A typical example of Nazi, physiognomic-based racial propaganda ...................323 vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In Nazi Germany, racial classification was based on whether or not an individual had “German blood.” Categorization as either “German blooded” or “non-German blooded” relied primarily upon documentation, such as birth and baptismal certificates. Labeling was compulsory, as everyone was required to carry a card indicating their race; however, in cases where parentage was in dispute or the necessary records were missing, the state often referred the matter to so-called “racial experts.” In one such instance in 1940, while preparing his analysis, Dr. Fritz Lenz explained to a district court that he could not give an expert opinion without testing the subject‟s blood type. The Ministry of Justice became involved and referred the matter to several of Lenz‟s colleagues, who replied that they did not share his views at all and that they had no difficulty
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