Fritz Lenz | |
|---|---|
| Born | Fritz Gottlieb Karl Lenz (1887-03-09)9 March 1887 |
| Died | 6 July 1976(1976-07-06) (aged 89) |
| Known for | Claimed scientific justification for Nazi ideology |
| Children | Hanfried Lenz,Widukind Lenz |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Genetics, eugenics, "racial hygiene" |
| Institutions | Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics,University of Göttingen |
| Academic advisors | Alfred Ploetz |
Fritz Gottlieb Karl Lenz (9 March 1887 inPflugrade,Pomerania – 6 July 1976 inGöttingen,Lower Saxony) was aGermangeneticist, member of the Nazi Party,[1] and influential specialist ineugenics inNazi Germany.
The pupil ofAlfred Ploetz, Lenz took over the publication of the magazine "Archives for Racial and Social Biology" from 1913 to 1933 and received in 1923 the first chair in eugenics in Munich. In 1933 he came to Berlin where he established the first specific department devoted to eugenics, at theKaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics.
Lenz specialised in the field of the transmission ofhereditaryhuman diseases and "racial health". The results of his research were published in 1921 and 1932 in collaboration withErwin Baur andEugen Fischer in two volumes that were later combined under the titleHuman Heredity Theory and Racial Hygiene (1936).
This work and his theory of "race as a value principle" placed Lenz and his two colleagues in the position of Germany's leadingracial theorists. Their ideas provided scientific justification forNazi ideology, in particular its emphasis on the superiority of the "Nordic race" and the desirability of eliminating allegedly inferior strains of humanity – or "life unworthy of life" (Lebensunwertes Leben). Lenz was a member of the "Committee of Experts for Population and Racial Policy". He joined the Nazi party in 1937 while serving as the head of theKaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics.[1]
AfterWorld War II, Lenz continued to work as a professor of genetics at theUniversity of Goettingen. When questioned, Lenz said that theHolocaust would undermine the study of human genetics and racial theory. He continued to believe that eugenic theories of racial differences had been scientifically proven.[citation needed]
Lenz criticised theUNESCO statement on Race, writing "In my opinion one of the dangers of the present Statement is that it disregards not only the enormous hereditary differences between men, but also absence of selection as the decisive cause of the decline of civilization, and it therefore runs counter to the science of eugenics."[2]: 30
Two of his sons areHanfried Lenz andWidukind Lenz.
For Lenz, human genetics established that the connection between racial identity and human nature was actually physical in character. This extended to political affiliations. Lenz even claimed that the revolutionary agitation in Germany after 1918 was caused by inferior racial elements, warning that the nation's racial superiority was threatened. He stated that "The German nation is the last refuge of the Nordic race … before us lies the greatest task of world history".[3] For Lenz, this validated theracialised politics of the Nazis.
He justified theNuremberg laws of 1935 in this way:
Likewise, Lenz took the view thatSlavs were inferior to Nordic peoples, and that they threatened to "overrun the superiorVolk (people)." In 1940, Lenz advised theSS that "The resettlement of the Eastern zone is … the most consequential task of racial policy. It will determine the racial character of the population living there for centuries to come."[citation needed]
