Blood and Homeland
Eugenics and Racial Nationalism in Central and Southeast
Europe, 1900-1940
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The editors:
Marius Turda, Marie Curie Fellow, School of Arts
and Humanities, Oxford Brookes University
Paul J. Weindling, Wellcome Trust Research Professor
in the History of Medicine, School of Arts and Humanities,
Oxford Brookes University
The history of eugenics and racial nationalism in Central
and Southeast Europe is a neglected topic of analysis
in contemporary scholarship. The 20 essays in this volume,
written by distinguished scholars of eugenics and fascism
alongside a new generation of scholars, excavate the
hitherto unknown eugenics movements in Central and Southeast
Europe, including Austria and Germany.
Eugenics and racial nationalism are topics that have
constantly been marginalized and rated as incompatible
with local national traditions in Central and Southeast
Europe. These topics receive a new treatment here. On
the one hand, the historiographic perspective connects
developments in the history of anthropology and eugenics
with political ideologies such as racial nationalism
and anti-Semitism; on the other hand, it contests the
'Sonderweg' approach adopted by scholars dealing with
these issues.
"Filled with new information and original ideas
and offering intriguing incentives for further research,
this well-edited volume is not only a remarkable edition
to the literature on European eugenics but provides
invaluable insights into the broader currents of intellectual
life in central and southeast Europe." - Slavic
Review
"The editors tell us that in Central and Eastern
Europe, eugenics and national racism were the cornerstones
used in building the nation and the state. Far from
giving in to the siren call of the forces of reaction,
this 'parti de la nature', as Claude Lévi-Strauss
calls it, brought together two modern and highly toxic
substances: eugenics and ultra nationalism." -
Medical History
"These essays make the convincing argument that
race was more important in Eastern Europe, compared
with eugenics in other parts of the world, and that
the region's political leaders believed that racial
nationalism was the key to creating national identity,
thus their support to the science of better breeding.
Summing up: recommended for upper-division undergraduates
and above." - Choice
"The Central European University Press is to be
congratulated for publishing two outstanding scholarly
analyses of the root causes of anti-Roma racism, which
is rapidly taking center stage in the drama of the East
European transition process. The books (Blood and Homeland
and The Roma
in Romanian History) fill a large gap in urgently
needed knowledge. They may well become essential research
tools for politicians and social and educational planning
departments that are approaching the challenge of European
integration. The books will be useful also for university
courses in history, sociology, and politics, as well
as Holocaust and genocide studies." - Transitions
Online
"Bisher kaum bekannt war die Entwicklung der Eugenik
in den ostmitteleuropäischen Staaten. Marius Turda
und Paul J. Weindling haben sich dieses weissen Flecks
angenommen und bieten mit ihrem Sammelband einen umfangreichen
Überblick zu verschiedenen Aspekten und Tendenzen
in den Ländern von Österreich bis Rumänien
und von Estland bis nach Bulgarien. Während die
Forschung zur Eugenik meist im Bereich der Medizinalgeschichte
oder im Kontext des Nationalsozialismus abgehandelt
wird, gehen die Autoren des Buches der Frage in einem
allgemeinhistorischen Zusammenhang nach: Wie beeinflusste
eugenisches Denken die Ausformung der Nationalismen
in den jungen Staaten des 'Cordon sanitaire' oder konstituierte
ihn gar?
Der Sammelband is nicht nur ein aufschlussreiches Kompendium,
er wird ein Standardwerk zum Thema Eugenik in Ostmitteleuropa
bleiben." - Jahrbücher für Geschichte
Osteuropas
Contents
Acknowledgments; List of Contributors;
Introduction Marius Turda and Paul J. Weindling:
Eugenics, Race and Nation in Central and Southeast
Europe, 1900–1940: A Historiographic Overview;
Part I. Ethnography and Racial Anthropology
Egbert Klautke: German “Race Psychology”
and Its Implementation in Central Europe: Egon von Eickstedt
and Rudolf Hippius; Margit Berner: From “Prisoner
of War Studies” to Proof of Paternity: Racial
Anthropologists and the Measuring of “Others”
in Austria; Maria Teschler-Nicola: Volksdeutsche
and Racial Anthropology in Interwar Vienna: The “Marienfeld
Project”; Rory Yeomans: Of Yugoslav Barbarians
and Croatian Gentlemen Scholars: Nationalist Ideology
and Racial Anthropology in Interwar Yugoslavia;
Sevasti Trubeta: Anthropological Discourse and Eugenics
in Interwar Greece; Part II. Eugenics and
Racial Hygiene in National Contexts Michal
Šimůnek: Eugenics, Social Genetics and
Racial Hygiene: Plans for the Regulation of Human Heredity
in the Czech Lands, 1900–1925; Magdalena
Gavin: Progressivism and Eugenic Thinking in Poland,
1905–1939; Marius Turda: The First Debates
on Eugenics in Hungary, 1910–1918; Christian
Promitzer: Taking Care of the National Body: Eugenic
Visions in Interwar Bulgaria, 1905–1940;
Ken Kalling: The Self-Perception of a Small Nation:
The Reception of Eugenics in Interwar Estonia;
Paul J. Weindling: Central Europe Confronts German
Racial Hygiene: Friedrich Hertz, Hugo Iltis and Ignaz
Zollschan as Critics of Racial Hygiene; Part
III. Religion, Public Health and Population Policies
Kamila Uzarczyk: “Moses als Eugeniker”?
The Reception of Eugenic Ideas in Jewish Medical Circles
in Interwar Poland; Monika Löscher: Eugenics
and Catholicism in Interwar Austria; Herwig Czech:
From Welfare to Selection: Vienna’s Public
Health Office and the Implementation of Racial Hygiene
Policies under the Nazi Regime; Maria Bucur: Fallen
Women and Necessary Evils: Eugenic Representations
of Prostitution in Interwar Romania; Part
IV. Anti-Semitism, Nationalism and Biopolitics
Răzvan Pârâianu: Culturalist Nationalism
and Anti-Semitism in Fin-de-Siècle Romania;
Attila Pók: The Politics of Hatred: Scapegoating
in Interwar Hungary; Aristotle A. Kallis: Racialist
Politics and Biomedical Totalitarianism in Interwar
Europe; Roger Griffin: Tunnel Visions and Mysterious
Trees: Modernist Projects of National and Racial Regeneration,
1880–1939; Index
2007
476 pages
ISBN 978-963-7326-77-6 cloth $54.95 / €41.95 /
£37.00
ISBN 978-963-7326-81-3 paperback $27.95 / €24.95
/ £22.99
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