Posted on 08/19/2006 6:39:43 AM PDT by RaceBannon
Belief in Evolution drove Hitler to what the Nazi's did!!
http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a3836c4427871.htm
Belief in Evolution made Hitler do what he did
http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a387abb210180.htm
Belief in Evolution drove Hitler to what the Nazi's did!!
Culture/Society Editorial Opinion (Published) Keywords: CREATION EVOLUTION NAZI HITLER
Source: Answers In Genesis
Published: First published in: Creation Ex Nihilo TechnicalJournal 13(2):101111, 1999 Author: Jerry Bergman
Posted on 11/20/1999 07:54:42 PST by RaceBannon
Darwinism and the Nazi race Holocaust
by Jerry Bergman
First published in: Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal 13(2):101111, 1999
Leading Nazis, and early 1900 influential German biologists, revealed in their writings that Darwins theory and publications had a major influence upon Nazi race policies. Hitler believed that the human gene pool could be improved by using selective breeding similar to how farmers breed superior cattle strains. In the formulation of their racial policies, Hitlers government relied heavily upon Darwinism, especially the elaborations by Spencer and Haeckel. As a result, a central policy of Hitlers administration was the development and implementation of policies designed to protect the superior race. This required at the very least preventing the inferior races from mixing with those judged superior, in order to reduce contamination of the latters gene pool. The superior race belief was based on the theory of group inequality within each species, a major presumption and requirement of Darwins original survival of the fittest theory. This philosophy culminated in the final solution, the extermination of approximately six million Jews and four million other people who belonged to what German scientists judged as inferior races.
Introduction
Of the many factors that produced the Nazi holocaust and World War II, one of the most important was Darwins notion that evolutionary progress occurs mainly as a result of the elimination of the weak in the struggle for survival. Although it is no easy task to assess the conflicting motives of Hitler and his supporters, Darwinism-inspired eugenics clearly played a critical role. Darwinism justified and encouraged the Nazi views on both race and war. If the Nazi party had fully embraced and consistently acted on the belief that all humans were descendants of Adam and Eve and equal before the creator God, as taught in both the Old Testament and New Testament Scriptures, the holocaust would never have occurred.
Expunging of the Judeo-Christian doctrine of the divine origin of humans from mainline German (liberal) theology and its schools, and replacing it with Darwinism, openly contributed to the acceptance of Social Darwinism that culminated in the tragedy of the holocaust.1 Darwins theory, as modified by Haeckel,2,3,4,5,6 Chamberlain7 and others, clearly contributed to the death of over nine million people in concentration camps, and about 40 million other humans in a war that cost about six trillion dollars. Furthermore, the primary reason that Nazism reached to the extent of the holocaust was the widespread acceptance of Social Darwinism by the scientific and academic community.1,8,9,10
The very heart of Darwinism is the belief that evolution proceeds by the differential survival of the fittest or superior individuals. This requires differences among a species, which in time become great enough so that those individuals that possess advantageous features the fittest are more apt to survive. Although the process of raciation may begin with slight differences, differential survival rates in time produce distinct races by a process called speciation, meaning the development of a new species.
The egalitarian ideal that all people are created equal, which now dominates Western ideology, has not been universal among nations and cultures.11 A major force that has argued against this view was the Social Darwinian eugenics movement, especially its crude survival of the fittest worldview.10,12 As Ludmerer noted, the idea that the hereditary quality of the race can be improved by selective breeding is as old as Platos Republic but:
modern eugenics thought arose only in the nineteenth century. The emergence of interest in eugenics during that century had multiple roots. The most important was the theory of evolution, for Francis Galtons ideas on eugenics and it was he who created the term eugenics were a direct logical outgrowth of the scientific doctrine elaborated by his cousin, Charles Darwin. 13
Nazi governmental policy was openly influenced by Darwinism, the Zeitgeist of both science and educated society of the time.10 This can be evaluated by an examination of extant documents, writings, and artefacts produced by Germanys twentieth century Nazi movement and its many scientist supporters. Keith concluded the Nazi treatment of Jews and other races, then believed inferior, was largely a result of their belief that Darwinism provided profound insight that could be used to significantly improve humankind.14 Tenenbaum noted that the political philosophy of Germany was built on the belief that critical for evolutionary progress were:
struggle, selection, and survival of the fittest, all notions and observations arrived at
by Darwin
but already in luxuriant bud in the German social philosophy of the nineteenth century.
Thus developed the doctrine of Germanys inherent right to rule the world on the basis of superior strength
[of a] hammer and anvil relationship between the Reich and the weaker nations. 14
The importance of race in Darwinism
The theory of evolution is based on individuals acquiring unique traits that enable those possessing the new traits to better survive adverse conditions compared to those who dont possess them. Superior individuals will be more likely to survive and pass on these traits to their offspring so such traits will increase in number, while the weaker individuals will eventually die off. If every member of a species were fully equal, natural selection would have nothing to select from, and evolution would cease for that species.
These differences gradually produce new groups, some of which have an advantage in terms of survival. These new groups became the superior, or the more evolved races. When a trait eventually spreads throughout the entire race because of the survival advantage it confers on those that possess it, a higher, more evolved form of animal will result. Hitler and the Nazi party claimed that one of their major goals was to apply this accepted science to society. And the core idea of Darwinism was not evolution, but selection. Evolution
describes the results of selection.16 Hitler stressed that to produce a better society we [the Nazis] must understand, and cooperate with science.
As the one race above all others, Aryans believed that their evolutionary superiority gave them not only the right, but the duty to subjugate all other peoples. Race was a major plank of the Nazi philosophy; Tenenbaum concluded that they incorporated Darwinism:
in their political system, with nothing left out
. Their political dictionary was replete with words like space, struggle, selection, and extinction (Ausmerzen). The syllogism of their logic was clearly stated: The world is a jungle in which different nations struggle for space. The stronger win, the weaker die or are killed
. 17
In the 1933 Nuremberg party rally, Hitler proclaimed that higher race subjects to itself a lower race
a right which we see in nature and which can be regarded as the sole conceivable right, because it was founded on science.15
Hitler believed humans were animals to whom the genetics laws, learned from livestock breeding, could be applied. The Nazis believed that instead of permitting natural forces and chance to control evolution, they must direct the process to advance the human race. The first step to achieve this goal was to isolate the inferior races in order to prevent them from further contaminating the Aryan gene pool. The widespread public support for this policy was a result of the belief, common in the educated classes, in the conclusion that certain races were genetically inferior as was scientifically proven by Darwinism. The Nazis believed that they were simply applying facts, proven by science, to produce a superior race of humans as part of their plan for a better world: The business of the corporate state was eugenics or artificial selection politics as applied biology. 18,19
As early as 1925, Hitler outlined his conclusion in Chapter 4 of Mein Kampf that Darwinism was the only basis for a successful Germany and which the title of his most famous work in English My Struggle alluded to. As Clark concluded, Adolf Hitler:
was captivated by evolutionary teaching probably since the time he was a boy. Evolutionary ideas quite undisguised lie at the basis of all that is worst in Mein Kampf -and in his public speeches
. Hitler reasoned
that a higher race would always conquer a lower.20
And Hickman adds that it is no coincidence that Hitler:
was a firm believer and preacher of evolution. Whatever the deeper, profound, complexities of his psychosis, it is certain that [the concept of struggle was important because]
his book, Mein Kampf, clearly set forth a number of evolutionary ideas, particularly those emphasizing struggle, survival of the fittest and the extermination of the weak to produce a better society. 21
Furthermore, the belief that evolution can be directed by scientists to produce a superior race was the central leitmotif of Nazism and many other sources existed from which Nazism drew:
its ideological fire-water. But in that concatenation of ideas and nightmares which made up the
social policies of the Nazi state, and to a considerable extent its military and diplomatic policies as well, can be most clearly comprehended in the light of its vast racial program. 22
The Nazi view on Darwinian evolution and race was consequently a major part of the fatal combination of ideas and events which produced the holocaust and World War II:
One of the central planks in Nazi theory and doctrine was
evolutionary theory [and]
that all biology had evolved
upward, and that
less evolved types
should be actively eradicated [and]
that natural selection could and should be actively aided, and therefore [the Nazis] instituted political measures to eradicate
Jews, and
blacks, whom they considered as underdeveloped. 23
Terms such as superior race, lower human types, pollution of the race, and the word evolution itself (Entwicklung) were often used by Hitler and other Nazi leaders. His race views were not from fringe science as often claimed but rather Hitlers views were:
straightforward German social Darwinism of a type widely known and accepted throughout Germany and which, more importantly, was considered by most Germans, scientists included, to be scientifically true. More recent scholarship on national socialism and Hitler has begun to realize that
[their application of Darwins theory] was the specific characteristic of Nazism. National socialist biopolicy,
[was] a policy based on a mystical-biological belief in radical inequality, a monistic, antitranscendent moral nihilism based on the eternal struggle for existence and the survival of the fittest as the law of nature, and the consequent use of state power for a public policy of natural selection
. 24
The philosophy that humans can control and even use Darwinism to produce a higher level of human is repeatedly mentioned in the writings and speeches of prominent Nazis.25 Accomplishing the Darwinian goal for the world required ruthlessly eliminating the less fit by open barbarian behavior:
The basic outline of German social Darwinism [was]
man was merely a part of nature with no special transcendent qualities or special humanness. On the other hand, the Germans were members of a biologically superior community
politics was merely the straightforward application of the laws of biology. In essence, Haeckel and his fellow social Darwinists advanced the ideas that were to become the core assumptions of national socialism
. The business of the corporate state was eugenics or artificial selection
. 18
Hitler once even stated that we Nazis
are barbarians! We want to be barbarians. It is an honorable title [for, by it,] we shall rejuvenate the world
.26 Hitler, as an evolutionist, consciously sought to make the practice of Germany conform to the theory of evolution.27 Keith adds that:
If war be the progeny of evolution and I am convinced that it is then evolution has gone mad, reaching such a height of ferocity as must frustrate its proper role in the world of life which is the advancement of her competing units, these being tribes, nations, or races of mankind. There is no way of getting rid of war save one, and that is to rid human nature of the sanctions imposed on it by the law of evolution. Can man
render the law of evolution null and void?
I have discovered no way that is at once possible and practicable. There is no escape from human nature. Because Germany has drunk the vat of evolution to its last dregs, and in her evolutionary debauch has plunged Europe into a bath of blood, that is no proof that the law of evolution is evil. A law which brought man out of the jungle and made him king of beasts cannot be altogether bad. 28
Jews in Germany and Darwinism
The German eugenic leadership was originally less anti-Semitic than even the British leadership. Most early German eugenicists believed that German Jews were Aryans, and consequently the eugenicist movement was supported by many Jewish professors and doctors both in Germany and abroad. The Jews were only slowly incorporated into the German eugenic theory and then laws.
The Darwinian racists views also slowly entered into many spheres of German society which they had previously not affected.9 The Pan German League, dedicated to maintaining German Racial Purity, was originally not overtly anti-Semitic and assimilated Jews were allowed full membership. Many German eugenicists believed that although blacks or Gypsies were racially inferior, their racial theories did not fit Jews since many Jews had achieved significant success in Germany. Schleunes adds that by 1903, the influence of race ideas permeated the Leagues program to the degree that by 1912, the League declared itself based upon racial principles and soon excluded Jews from membership.29
In spite of the scientific prominence of these racial views, they had a limited effect upon most Jews until the 1930s. Most German Jews were proud of being Germans and considered themselves Germans first and Jews second. Many Jews modified the German intelligentsias racial views by including themselves in it. Their assimilation into German life was to the extent that most felt its anti-Semitism did not represent a serious threat to their security. Most Jews also were convinced that Germany was now a safe harbour for them.30 Many still firmly held to the Genesis creation model and rejected the views upon which racism was based, including Darwinism. What happened in Germany later was obviously not well received by Jewish geneticists, even Jewish eugenicists and certain other groups:
My gawd, this is so stupid, it makes my head hurt. Hitler was pure evil looking for justification. The evil came first and foremost. Blaming evolution for the Holocaust is the opposite of the Twinkie defense.
I kind of agree with you, however, if you believe we are simply animals, simply the product of random mutations, it is not a far leap to believe that we might purge our species of undesirable genes, either by outright killing those we deem unsuitable, or making sure they cannot procreate.
susie
Oh, for pete's sake!
First, it shows you didnt read the article or go to the links by your comments.
Ideas have consequences. Hitler's ideas were based on a superior race, and Evolution was certainly a factor in that.
Once again, you didnt even read the whole article to sat what you did.
Ideas have consequences. Evolution supported ALL of Hitler's racial ideas, and that CANNOT be refuted.
Evolution says nothing about "superior races." One has to have a warped misinterpretation of it to believe that.
Next time, read the article and comment on what was said.
That is how you refutte something.
At first I thought I'd post a riposte, but this drivel does not deserve even that much recognition.
Whose "law" is it that the first one to bring Nazis or Hitler into an argument has lost?
For any puzzled lurkers: check the poster's history.
Actually, this dubious honor belongs to the militant secularism - the atheists killed many more after Communist takeovers.
Evolution says SURVIVASL of the FITTEST, and that means superior, does it not?
Even famous evolutionist Henry Fairfield Osbourne said that black adult males had the brains of 12 year old white males and that defended his racist views.
You must not be up on just what evolution means.
This may well be the most ignorant commentary I have ever seen about Darwinism and about the views of Charles Darwin himself.
The author is fortunate that one cannot libel the dead-- otherwise Darwin would have quite a lawsuit against him.
"Next time, read the article and comment on what was said.
That is how you refutte something.
"
I did read the article, hence my response. I wouldn't take the time to discuss this idiotic film in any detail. I notice that it's going to be shown on the "Coral Ridge Hour." That's a small enough demographic to ignore completely, which is my advice here about the film in general.
However, to satisfy your interest:
The fact that Hitler wrongly applied evolutionary theory to social structures is irrelevant to the Theory of Evolution, which discusses social structures not at all.
The entire argument is a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy.
We're having a cloudy day here in Kansas City. Can I blame that on Hitler and Darwin, too?
What a load of utter garbage.
Just another ideological attack on science. The theory of evolution is about genetic changes over time through natural selection, it does not advocate mass murder.
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