The wall chart was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by the District of Unterfranken, Bavaria, Germany.
Dr. Bruno Kurt Schultz (1901-1997) was born in Sitzenberg, Austria-Hungary (now Sitzenberg-Reidling, Austria). He earned a doctorate in physical anthropology and his work extended into the fields of heredity, ethnology, and anthropometry. He was the author of several books and many articles about anthropometry and racial hygiene. He lectured on these topics in Vienna, Austria, and in Munich and Berlin, Germany. In 1929, Dr. Schultz became a German citizen, and began working as editor at the J. F. Lehmann publishing house in Munich, which was known for producing medical literature, charts, and material about eugenics. In 1932, Dr. Schultz joined the Nazi Party. He was in the Schutzstaffel (SS), and worked in the Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt-SS (SS Race and Settlement Main Office; RuSHA). While working there, Dr. Schultz developed the criteria that defined the physical characteristics that determined who in German society was considered “racially pure” and “Nordic.” His model was also used to determine who was eligible to join the SS based on their ancestry, the color of their hair, eyes, and skin, and other aspects deemed “racially pure.” Following the German invasion and occupation of other nations just before and during World War II (1939-1945), the same general model was used to analyze populations for resettlement and Germanization within those territories. In February 1942, Dr. Schultz was appointed Chief of the Race Office (RuSHa), a position he held until the end of the war in May 1945. Dr. Schultz went through what the allied powers called denazification: the effort to remove all traces of Nazi ideology, institutions, influence, and laws from Germany, as well as Nazi party members from offices or positions of responsibility. He was not prosecuted as a war criminal. In the Nuremburg Doctors’ Trial (1946), other doctors were presented as manipulated by the SS and various Nazis, and were not considered affiliated with the concentration camps or killing centers. Instead, the SS and medical personnel, such as Dr. Mengele, who were directly involved with the camps and centers, were identified as those most responsible for the atrocities.
Large, rectangular, mechanical lithographic wall chart printed in black ink on offwhite paper with linen canvas backing. The top and bottom edges are adhered to circular wooden dowels; the top dowel is flat on the back. Printed on the front are photographic reproductions featuring headshots of males of different ethnicities.
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overall: Height: 55.250 inches (140.335 cm) | Width: 42.250 inches (107.315 cm)
Racial science chart featuring headshots of the four major ethnic groups of Europe as defined by Nazi racial policy makers. It was produced by The Race and Settlement Main Office (RuSHA) and edited by Dr. Bruno K. Schultz, a race specialist and SS and Nazi Party member, as a teaching tool for racial hygiene instruction. Nazi ideology sought to create a racially pure German nation. All those who did not belong to the Nordic race were to be excluded from the community. Thus citizens had to be educated to recognize the physical characteristics that revealed the racially acceptable and the racially undesirable.
Races of the World: The 4 Main Races of Europe Large wall chart with photos of 4 European races used to teach racial hygiene in Nazi Germany