Alfred Ploetz
Alfred Ploetz | |
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Herrsching, Bavaria, Nazi Germany |
Alfred Ploetz (22 August 1860 – 20 March 1940) was a German
Early life
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Ploetz was born in
After he had finished school, Ploetz at first studied
The circle enthusiastically read the works of Ernst Haeckel and Charles Darwin. Carl Hauptmann was a student of Haeckel, and Gerhart Hauptmann and Ploetz attended some of Haeckel's lectures. The group expanded and developed a plan of founding a colony in one of the Pacific states[clarification needed] and established itself as the "Pacific Association". It planned a "community on friendly, socialist and maybe also pan-Germanic basis". In consequence of the prosecution of socialistically-minded persons in application of Otto von Bismarck's antisocialist laws (1878–1890), Ploetz in 1883 fled to Zurich, where he continued to study political economy with Julius Platter (1844–1923). In his memoirs, Ploetz stated as an important reason for his choice of Zurich that in his studies in Breslau, socialist theories had been only incidentally mentioned.
After living for a half a year in the United States, Ploetz returned to Zurich and began to study medicine. In 1886, he fell in love with a fellow student, Agnes Bluhm, but he was involved with Pauline Rüdin; the last two decided to get married early in 1887. Ploetz was also seeing an American, Mary Sherwood, who was studying hypnotism.
Career
In 1890, Ploetz became a medical doctor and married his former girlfriend Pauline, but they never had children. Bluhm, however, kept Ploetz as a close friend throughout her life, and both shared similar views on racial purity and the benefits of eugenics.[3] Ploetz and his wife lived in the United States for four years and divorced in 1898. Ploetz later married Anita Nordenholz, and they produced three children: Ulrich (called Uli), Cordelia (called Deda) and Wilfrid (called Fridl, 1912–2013).[4]
Ploetz first proposed the theory of racial hygiene (race-based eugenics) in his "Racial Hygiene Basics" (Grundlinien einer Rassenhygiene) in 1895. In 1904, Ploetz founded the periodical Archiv für Rassen-und Gesellschaftsbiologie with Fritz Lenz as chief editor, which was the first journal in the world devoted to eugenic topics,[5] and in 1905 founded the German Society for Racial Hygiene (Die Berliner Gesellschaft fur Rassenhygiene)[6] with 31 members.[7] In 1907 the society became the "International Society for Racial Hygiene".[8]
Nazi Germany
In 1930 he was made an honorary doctor of the
In 1937, at the age of 77, he joined the Nazi Party.[10]
Death and legacy
He died in 1940 at the age of 79 and is buried at his home in
Theories
In his book The Excellence of Our Race and the Protection of the Weak (1895), Ploetz coined the term "racial hygiene" (
Society would be regulated strictly to ensure equal opportunity, and those who failed would starve. Ploetz found the idea horrible and suggested a humane alternative of simply encouraging only "fit" people to reproduce, but he called that a weak proposal.[13]
Along with many other eugenicists in Europe and America, Ploetz believed in the superiority of the
In his early writings, Ploetz credited Jews as the highest cultural race after Europeans.[14] He identified no substantial difference in "racial character" between Aryans and Jews and argued that the mental abilities of Jews and their role in the development of human culture made them indispensable to the "process of racial mix", which would enhance humanity:
The high aptitude of the Jews and their outstanding role in the progress of mankind considering men like Jesus, Spinoza, Marx has to be kindly acknowledged without hesitation... All this Antisemitism is a flop which will vanish slowly in the light of scientific knowledge and a humane democracy".[15]
He revised that view. He stressed that the distinctiveness of Jews indicated that their mental characteristics would adversely affect Aryans by introducing individualism and lack of love for the military and the nation. Ploetz favoured the global dominance of the Aryan race.[16]
Bibliography
- (Alfred Hoche, Alfred Ploetz, Alfred Vierkandt, Carl Hans Heinze Sennhenn) German Eugenicists ISBN 9781230541914.[17]
- (Alfred J Ploetz) Die Tüchtigkeit unsrer Rasse und der Schutz der Schwachen ISBN 1103490796.[18]
- (Alfred J Ploetz) Archiv für Rassen- und Gesellschafts-Biologie, einschliesslich Rassen- und Gesellschafts-Hygiene 1908, Fuenfter Jahrgang ISBN 117441166X.[19]
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0199945054. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
- ^ ISBN 9780271007939.
- ISBN 052142397X.
- ^ "Anzeige von Wilfrid Ploetz". merkur-online.de. Archived from the original on 2014-06-20.
- ^ )
- ^ "Mystiek Antisemitisme Waar Sprookjes En Wetenschap Elkaar Ontmoeten". Internet Archive.
- ^ Schafft, Gretchen Engle: "From Racism to Genocide: Anthropology in the Third Reich". University of Illinois Press. 2004, p. 42.
- ISBN 978-0313345388.
- ^ Anahid S. Rickman: "Rassenpflege im völkischen Staat", Vom Verhältnis der Rassenhygiene zur nationalsozialistischen Politik. Dissertation Bonn 2002, Online einsehbar unter [3], p. 331
- ^ Federal Archives Act Party Zehlendorf.
- ^ Otmar von Verschuer, "Alfred Ploetz," in The Erbarzt, Bd 8 p.69-72, 1940, p.71
- ^ Ernst Rudin: "Honor of Prof. Dr. Alfred Ploetz," in ARGB, Bd 32 / S.473–474, 1938, p. 474
- ISBN 0-807-81460-1, p. 107
- ^ "Wir haben frueher die Juden neben den Westariern als hoechstentwickelte Culturrasse angefuehrt." Ploetz, 137
- ISBN 3-465-03222-5, p.406
- ISBN 3-593-37745-4, p. 182
- ISBN 9781230541914.
- ISBN 1103490796.
- ISBN 117441166X.