The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics During World War II, 1938/42–1945
Chapter 4 In the Realm of Opportunity: The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics during World War II, 1938/42–1945 4.1 The “Reorganization” of the Institute under the Banner of Phenogenetics, 1938–1942 4.1.1 Preliminary Considerations in the Years 1938/42 On March 8, 1940, Eugen Fischer wrote a long, confidential letter to Otmar von Verschuer, director of the Institute for Genetic Biology and Race Hygiene at the University of Frankfurt at that time. In this letter Fischer expressed critique – and certainly also self-critique – about the scientific development of his institute since the mid-1930s. At first glance this critical assessment seems surprising. The KWI-A had prof- ited considerably from the genetic and race policy of the National Socialist regime. Money flowed abundantly, research projects received generous support, the expan- sion of the institute proceeded. As the deputy chairman of the Medical Biology Section of the “Academic Council” of the KWG, and even more so as a member of the Expert Committee for “Anthropology and Ethnology” of the Emergency Association of German Science and the Reich Research Council, respectively, the position Fischer held within his area of expertise was central in terms of research strategy.1 The political prestige and social recognition of the KWI-A, and the scientists working there increased constantly. Fischer himself received a number of honors and accolades in the Third Reich, of which his election to membership in the Prussian Academy of Sciences in 1937 was the most important. Just a year ear- lier, in 1939, Fischer had been awarded the Goethe Medal for Art and Science.2 Yet in March 1940 Fischer was not satisfied with the development of the insti- tute.
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