“By the 1930s, the links between German and U.S. eugenics were well established”1 . When Virginia upheld the sterilization law in the Supreme Court, it served as a blueprint for the country, leading to the forced sterilization of thousands of men and women across the nation. Virginia law was adopted and transformed by Nazi Germany and used as a defense in their own eugenical beliefs and processes. Although eugenics was thought to have ended after the end of the second world war, enforced sterilization would continue to be a huge issue in the United States for a long time after the end of eugenics in Nazi Germany.
Hitler’s ideals aligned with the sterilization efforts in the U.S. in multiple different ways. “immigration restriction, eugenic sterilization, and prohibition of interracial marriage”2 were all efforts to promote and protect the master race that happened both in Germany and the U.S. Hitler also frowned upon having children out of wedlock and promiscuity. Although Hitler agreed with these ideals, minimal change happened until his rise to power. The groundwork was laid out for the first national sterilization legislation in January of 1933 when Hitler became chancellor. In July of that year the “Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring” was passed. However, this law was not put into effect until January of 1934.
Hitler’s views on sterilization efforts and eugenics may have been a little more extreme than in the United States, but the similarities are still there. He segregated his communities to promote his master race. He even went as far as to kill off anyone who didn’t fit into his definition of his master race. I’m glad America didn’t didn’t go as far as Hitler did in Nazi Germany, but it is frightening to think how the U.S. was the inspiration to his efforts. Although eugenics in America may not be as well known as the eugenics in Nazi Germany, it still casts a dark shadow on our past.
- Lombardo, Paul A, Three Generations, No Imbeciles : Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008) pg. 199 ↩︎
- Lombardo, Paul A, Three Generations, No Imbeciles : Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008) pg. 200 ↩︎