us-005578-irn82507-irn3691
type: RecordSet
archival history: The case was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1990 by the Institut für Humangenetik der Universität Göttingen.
biographical history: Dr. Eugen Fischer (1874-1967) was born to a Catholic family in Karlsruhe, Germany. He studied medicine and natural sciences at Freiburg University, and later became a professor of Anatomy and Anthropology at the Universities of Würzburg and Freiburg. Dr. Fischer published numerous works on his own, and with Dr. Erwin Baur and Dr. Fritz Lenz, all of whom were considered leaders in the German eugenics movement. Many themes and ideas from their works were incorporated into Nazi attitudes of racial superiority. Anthropology and the sub-discipline Anthropometry, the systematic identification and classification of a range of physical characteristics found within different populations of people, were both well-suited to the rising emphasis on eugenics, often referred to as racial hygiene, in Germany during the 1920s and 1930s. Many supporters linked eugenics to race, and believed that “race mixing,” modern medicine, keeping the “unfit” alive to reproduce, and costly welfare programs hindered natural selection and would lead to the biological “degeneration” of society. These ideas and practices began to inform government policy, and were absorbed into the ideology and platform of the newly formed Nazi Party during the 1920s. In 1927, Dr. Fischer became Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics. From 1934 to 1935, he taught a course on anthropology, genetics, and eugenics, also called racial hygiene, for Schutzstaffel (SS) doctors. Many of Dr. Fischer’s theories about eugenics and miscegenation formed the supposedly scientific basis of the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. They were also utilized as the justification for Aktion T-4, the Nazi euthanasia program for the “incurably sick.” While at the Institute, he ordered sterilizations and other eugenic procedures, and evaluated medical experiments carried out in euthanasia killing centers and concentration camps. In 1940, Dr. Fischer became an official member of the Nazi party. Later, he se…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Rectangular, flat, black synthetic leather carrying case for a hair color tool (.1a) with four flaps covering the reinforced cardboard body. The case is stitched with black thread and has a shiny surface textured to resemble leather. It has a three-quarter-height rectangular top flap, and a half-height, rectangular bottom flap. Two black-painted, silver-colored metal snaps in the corners fasten the top and bottom flaps together. The half-width side flaps are triangular with curved sides and rounded points, connected by a single snap at their tips. The side flaps are covered by the top and bottom flaps when the case is closed. The interior surfaces are textured, but dull, and a stiff, rectangular inner panel is adhered to the back. It is only visible when the flaps are lifted to expose the interior. The plastic is stiff and creased throughout, and the material beneath the inner panel is pulling loose.
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
date: approximately 1933-1945
has beginning date: 1928-01-01
has end date: 1945-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn3691
is or was included in: us-005578-irn82507
record resource extent: overall: Height: 5.000 inches (12.7 cm) | Width: 6.500 inches (16.51 cm) | Depth: 0.750 inches (1.905 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Case for a tool for systemically identifying hair color, used as part of eugenics studies conducted in Nazi-controlled Germany from 1933 to 1945. The original was designed around 1905 by German Anthropologist, Dr. Eugen Fischer, to classify the relative “whiteness” of “mixed-race” people according to their hair color. In 1928, Fischer and fellow Anthropologist, Dr. Karl Saller, reorganized and redesigned the tool. Many supporters linked eugenics, often referred to as racial hygiene, to race, and believed that “race mixing,” modern medicine, keeping the “unfit” alive to reproduce, and costly welfare programs hindered natural selection and would lead to the biological “degeneration” of society. These ideas and practices began to inform government policy, and were absorbed into the ideology and platform of the newly formed Nazi Party during the 1920s. Following Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor in January 1933, a politically extreme, antisemitic variation of eugenics shaped Nazi policies and permeated German society and institutions. These policies touted the “Nordic race” as its eugenic ideal, and made efforts to exclude anyone deemed hereditarily “less valuable” or “racially foreign,” including Jews, “Slavs, Roma (gypsies), and blacks.” Racial hygiene studies assigned individuals to state-defined races, ranked from “superior” to “inferior,” based on family genealogies, physical measurements, and intelligence tests. Many German physicians and scientists, like Dr. Fischer, who had supported racial hygiene ideas before 1933, embraced the Nazi emphasis on biology and heredity, in order to take advantage of new career opportunities and additional funding for research. Others that opposed the Nazi ideologies regarding racial hygiene, like Dr. Saller, often found themselves removed from posts, forced out of the field, driven to emigrate, or imprisoned in concentration camps.
title: Case for hair color tool used in racial studies conducted in Nazi Germany