Hans F. K. Günther
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (January 2013) |
Hans F. K. Günther | |
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National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) |
Hans Friedrich Karl Günther (16 February 1891 – 25 September 1968) was a
Günther taught at the universities of
Life and career
Günther was the son of a musician. He studied comparative linguistics at
In 1919, after the end of the war, he started his writing career. He wrote a polemical work entitled Ritter, Tod und Teufel: Der heldische Gedanke ("The Knight, Death and the Devil: The Heroic Idea"), a reworking of the tradition of German
Career in Third Reich
He received several honors during the
After
Racial theories
Günther's theories arose from the Nordicist ideology prevalent at the time. Eugen Fischer, the professor of anthropology in Freiburg, was an influential proponent of these ideas and had lectured at Albert Ludwigs University when Günther studied there.
Günther wrote that a race could be identified in the following manner.
A race shows itself in a human group which is marked off from every other human group through its own proper combination of bodily and mental characteristics, and in turn produces only its like.[5]
This definition of "race" was used in
Günther in his writings was quick to mark out the distinction between "race" and "
Günther described in his works, for instance in Rassenkunde des jüdischen Volkes ("Ethnology of the Jewish people"), that Jews belonged predominantly to the "Near Eastern race" (Vorderasiatische Rasse, more commonly known as the "
In his 1927 book The Racial Elements of European History, Günther outlined the differences between racial and linguistic definitions:
We find, in general, the most confused notions as to how the European peoples are composed of various races. We often hear, for example, a 'white race' or a 'Caucasian race' spoken of, to which the Europeans are said to belong. But probably, were he asked, no one could tell us what its bodily characteristics are. It is, or should be, quite clear that a 'race' must be embodied in a group of human beings each of whom presents the same physical and mental picture. Physical and mental differences, however, are very great, not only within Europe (often called the home of the 'white' or 'Caucasian' race) and within each of the countries in it, but even within some small district in one of the latter. There is, therefore, no 'German race,' or 'Russian race,' or 'Spanish race.' The terms 'nation' and 'race' must be kept apart.
People may be heard speaking of a 'Germanic,' a 'Latin,' and a 'Slav' race; but it is at once seen that in those lands where Germanic, Romance, or Slav tongues are spoken there is the same bewildering variety in the outward appearance of their peoples, and never any such uniformity as suggests a race.
We see, therefore, that the human groups in question – the 'Germans,' the 'Latins,' and the 'Slavs' – form a linguistical, not a racial combination.
The following consideration will probably be enough to keep racial and linguistical grouping distinct from one another. Is a North American negro – a man, that is, speaking American English, a Germanic tongue, as his own – is he a German, taking this term in its wider meaning? The usual answer would be: No; for a German is tall, fair, and light-eyed. But now a fresh perplexity comes in: In Scotland are found many tall, fair, light-eyed men and women, speaking Keltic. Are there, then, Kelts who look like 'Germans'? It is from Kelts (according to a still prevalent belief in south Germany) that the dark, short people of Germany come. Many of the ancient Greeks and Romans are described as like Germans. Fair, light-eyed men and women are not seldom met with in the Caucasus. There are Italians of 'Germanic' appearance. I have taken the anthropometrical measurements of a Spaniard with this appearance. On the other hand, there are very many Germans, men belonging, that is, to a people speaking a Germanic tongue, who have no Germanic appearance whatever.[11]
Günther divided the European populations into six races, the "Nordic" ("Nordische"), "Phalic" or "Phalian" ("Fälische"), "Eastern" ("Ostische"), "Western" ("Westische"), "Dinaric" ("Dinarische") and "East Baltic" ("Ostbaltische") race. "Western" and "Eastern" were, in practice, alternatives for the more widely used terms "Mediterranean" and "Alpine". The "Phalic" race was a minor category regarded as a sub-type of the Nordic race, and was dropped in many of his writings.[8]
Günther in his book Rassenkunde des deutschen Volkes ("Racial Science of the German People") categorized Germans as belonging to the Nordic, Mediterranean, Dinaric, Alpine and East Baltic races.[8] In the book, he argued for Germans to avoid race mixing.[12]
Opposed to the Nordics were the Jews, who were "a thing of ferment and disturbance, a wedge driven by Asia into the European structure."[13] Günther argued that the Nordic peoples should unite to secure their dominance.
Although Günther seemed to admire Mediterraneans and Dinarics, as well as the highly praised Nordics, the East Baltic race was considered inferior in nearly every instance Günther mentioned it in his book, The Racial Elements of European History.
Günther believed Slavic people to be of an "Eastern race" separate from Germany and Nordics and warned about mixing "German blood" with Slavic one.[14]
Among Günther's disciples was
Influence on Adolf Hitler
References
- ^ Steinweis 2008, p. 26.
- ^ Donna F. Ryan, John S. Schuchman. 2002. Deaf People in Hitler's Europe. Gallaudet University Press p. 19
- ^ Anja Heuss: Kunst- und Kulturgutraub. Heidelberg (1999), ISBN 3-8253-0994-0, p. 100 ff.
- ^ Willem de Vries: Kunstraub im Westen 1940–1945. Alfred Rosenberg und der Sonderstab Musik. Frankfurt (2000), ISBN 3-596-14768-9, p. 97.
- ^ Gunther, Hans F. K., The Racial Elements of European History, translated by G. C. Wheeler, Methuen & Co. LTD, London, 1927, p. 3
- ^ "You and Your People (Volk)" [Du und dein Volk]. 1940.
- ^ a b Steinweis 2008, p. 29.
- ^ a b c Steinweis 2008, p. 28.
- ^ a b Steinweis 2008, p. 33.
- ^ Steinweis 2008, p. 32.
- ^ Hans F. K. Günther (1927). "REMARKS ON THE TERM 'RACE,' ON THE DETERMINATION OF FIVE EUROPEAN RACES, AND ON SKULL MEASUREMENT". The Racial Elements of European History.
- ^ Yeomans & Wendt 2013, p. 38.
- ^ Anne Maxwell, Picture Imperfect: Photography and Eugenics, 1870-1940, p. 153
- ^ Wulf D. Hund, Racisms Made in Germany, (2011), p. 19
- ^ Timothy Ryback, Hitler's Private Library: The Books that Shaped His Life (New York: Knopf, 2008), 110.
- ^ Timothy Ryback, Hitler's Private Library: The Books that Shaped His Life (New York: Knopf, 2008), 69. Ryback does not cite a source for this list, which may have been a book list distributed by Alfred Rosenberg's Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur. See Jan-Pieter Barbian, Literaturpolitik im Dritten Reich: Institutionen, Kompetenzen, Betätigungsfelder(Nördlingen, revised edition 1995), p. 56ff.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-553-81445-3.
- Steinweis, Alan E (2008) [2006]. Studying the Jew: Scholarly Antisemitism in Nazi Germany. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674027619.
- Yeomans, Rory; Wendt, Anton Weiss (2013). Racial Science in Hitler's New Europe, 1938-1945. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-4605-8.
Further reading
- Spiro, Jonathan P. (2009). Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison Grant. Univ. of Vermont Press. ISBN 978-1-58465-715-6.
External links
- Works by or about Hans F. K. Günther at Internet Archive
- The Works Of HFK Günther in German and English at the Library of Congress Web Archives (archived 2009-03-08)