MikeDunnAuthor<p>Today in Labor History July 14, 1933: the Nazi eugenics program began with the proclamation of the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring requiring the compulsory sterilization of any citizen who suffers from alleged genetic disorders. The Nazi eugenics program was similar to, and inspired by, the eugenics program in the United States, which had begun in the late 1800s, and included forced sterilization of people deemed inferior, as well as anti-miscegenation laws. Hitler wrote that "There is today one state in which at least weak beginnings toward a better conception are noticeable. Of course, it is not our model German Republic, but the United States," in reference to the U.S. eugenics program. Though the Nazis took their program much further, with the mass extermination of people they thought were inferior, especially Jews, Roma, and anyone else that was not straight, cis and “Aryan,” as well as people with disabilities, communists, socialists and anarchists, both programs were based on the presumptions that certain groups of people were inferior, and that their elimination would improve the genetic stock. Forced sterilization, particularly of African-American women, continued well into the 1970s in many parts of the U.S. Early proponents of eugenics included many liberals, progressives, socialists, and even black activists including: Margaret Sanger, W. E. B. Du Bois, Hellen Keller, Clarence Darrow, George Bernard Shaw, 2-time Nobel Prize laureate Linus Pauling (including a Nobel peace prize).</p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>workingclass</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LaborHistory</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/eugenics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>eugenics</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/nazis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>nazis</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>fascism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/racism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>racism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/nobelprize" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>nobelprize</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/hitler" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>hitler</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/forcedsterilization" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>forcedsterilization</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/homophobia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>homophobia</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/transphobia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>transphobia</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/antisemitism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>antisemitism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/jews" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>jews</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/lgbtq" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>lgbtq</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/roma" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>roma</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/anarchism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>anarchism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/socialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>socialism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/communism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>communism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/abelism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>abelism</span></a></p>