The Nazi theory of “Aryan” race purity was blasted by Dr. Maurice Fishberg, anthropologist, last night in an address which disclosed in no uncertain terms that the theory is a “political” move.
Speaking before a meeting of the Judeans held in Temple Emanu-El, Dr. Fishberg questioned the existence of a people whose origins are without alien intermixture.
“There are no pure races in any part of the world,” said Dr. Fishberg. “Some pseudo-scientists have considered the so-called Nordic race as the pinnacle of creation. They believe that persons with long or oval heads, blonde hair and blue eyes, are superior to those with round heads and dark hair and eyes.
“It is curious that in glorifying that type, the German government has never permitted a study of the adult population with a view of ascertaining the proportion of Nordics.”
MIXED DESCENT
Dr. Fishberg quoted an assertion of Quaterfages, French an anthropologist, to the effect that Teutons are of mixed descent, with the blood of Lapps, Mongols and Teutons.
“Most Nazi pseudo-scientists favor the formation of Nordic breeding colonies. Selecting patriotic women and a few men of pure blond type they feel they could breed Nordics for all purposes. One good Nordic male is good for fifty or one hundred females. They are satisfied that because of the polygamous proclivities of the Nordic male and the domesticity of the female they could populate their country within one or two generations with Nordics. The other racial type should be sterilized. The Nazis have already started on a modest scale.
“The Nazis maintain that Christ was not a Jew, that Mary was a pure blond. That all good creations in literature, the arts and sciences have emanated from blonds. But the following were enumerated as brunettes or with round heads: Luther, Raphael, Dante, Goethe, Shakespeare, Michelangelo, Beethoven, Napoleon, Bismarek, Kent, Schopenhauer, Tolstoy, Dostoyewski, Gorky and many others.
“Because Goethe is classed by a German scientist as a Teutonic-Western Asiatic half breed, it has been stated there was quite miserable music in his Faust. Beethoven was short of stature, had dark skin, coal black hair and eyes and Negroid features.
JEWISH BLONDES
“There is no such thing as a Jewish race. The Jews resemble the type of people among whom they live. Over twenty, and in some countries thirty, per cent of the Jews are blonds. There is no more justification for speaking of a Jewish race than there is for speaking of a Christian or Mohammedan race.
“Civilization has already assumed its distinctive features in Egypt, Arabia, Syria and Crete long before the people of Alpine and Nordie had emerged from barbarism. Most of the Aryan culture has been derived from Mesopotamia.
“A curious feature of the whole Nazi race discrimination is that its leader, its deity, is a brunette with Slavonian, nay Mongolian features…”
Professor Elisworth Huntington of Yale also spoke. Dr. Franz Boas, of Columbia University, was guest of honor. Presiding was Max J. Kohler.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
