That's a good point, and an important one. What distinguishes the Nazis from, say, other varieties of garden totalitarians, is the biological nature of their politics. It would not be far from the truth to say that it became a religion for them, mixed in with nationalism and even with weird mystical elements. With that in mind, think about this statement of Galton's:
"I take Eugenics very seriously, feeling that its principles ought to become one of the dominant motives in a civilised nation, much as if they were one of its religious tenets."And, in his book Essays in Eugenics, Galton writes:
"The aims of Eugenics... 5. Persistence in setting forth the national importance of Eugenics. There are three stages to be passed through. Firstly it must be made familiar as an academic question, until its exact importance has been understood and accepted as fact; Secondly it must be recognised as a subject whose practical development deserves serious consideration; and Thirdly it must be introduced into the national conscience, like a new religion."And now consider this by Karl Pearson:
"The thorough conviction by a nation that no worthier object can exist for man than the improvement of his own race is for Galton in itself the acceptance of Eugenics as a national religion. If we examine the reasons for such irresistible streams of popular emotion as are vaguely symbolised in respect for the national flag, in the King as personifying our country, indeed in all phases of patriotism, we shall discover that their springs lie in Galton's "immaterial motives," and it is in precisely such almost instinctive motives that he hoped to find ultimately a foundation for that highest form of patriotism, eugenic morality."and now think about this, from Wetham's Heredity and Socitey. He is talking about the success of Eugenics.
"If we are right in believing that the religious instinct is the only force strong enough to influence mankind, consciously or unconsciously, to consider the race as distinct from the individual, it is clear that the character of the national religion, the correctness of the biological principles its teaching embodies, the devotion, fidelity and number of its adherents, will be the real criterion of success or failure"Do you get the picture? Listen to what Leonard Darwin said in his opening address to the First International Eugenics Congress in 1912:
"As an agency making for progress, conscious selection must replace the blind forces of natural selection; and men must utilize all the knowledge acquired by studying the process of evolution in the past in order to promote moral and physical progress in the future. The nation which first takes this great work thoroughly in hand will surely not only win in all matters of international competition, but will be given a place of honour in the history of the world."Keep in mind that Alfred Ploetz was a member of the Eugenics Society while Leonard Darwin was president. So why did eugenics take off the way it did in Germany? Erst Rudin, Alfred Ploetz's brother-in-law, answers the question this way...
"Even if our movement succeeded in silently and slowly winning over the brains and hearts of our best Germans, the lack of organization ensured that no racial hygiene measures could be taken. The importance of racial hygiene has only become known in Germany to all intelligent Germans through the political work of Adolf Hitler, and it was only through him that our more than thirty-year-old dream has become a reality and racial hygiene principles have been translated into action."In other words, Germany happened to have the right sort of leader: in full agreement with eugenics, and possessing the political power to do something about it.