The Aryan Race

"We are the blond race of the north, we are the noble people of the world."

-Volk Newspaper (Ayer 21)

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The Aryan race was considered in every way superior; they were the master race.  There could be no mixture of Jewish ancestry in a truly "Aryan" person.  Blonde hair and blue eyes were the purest Aryans.  

"The German Face"

This chart shows 3 types of Aryan faces: 1. Nordic racial core,

2. Falian-Nordic racial core, and 3. Western influence. 

This poster was part of a series called Theory of Inheritance and Racial Hygiene.

(USHMM, Hans Pauli)

When the Hitler Youth were registering, they had to prove their Aryan ancestry.  Young men ages 18-20 applying for the most prestigious branch of the Hitler Youth, the SS, had to prove their Aryan ancestry to the year 1650.   If you were not an Aryan person, life became increasingly hard. 

This letter was sent to Walter Jacobsberg informing him that his application

to a pharmacology school was denied because of his non-Aryan status.

(USHMM, Walter Jacobsberg)

The idea of the Aryan superiority wasn't necessarily new.  Anti-Jewish feelings had been in Europe for many years.  Before the Nazis, there was the Volkisch movement.  They were a group of fanatic Germans who believed that Germans were superior.  Foreigners and many Jews were "threatening" the race.  ' "We are the blond race of the north, we are the noble people of the world", said a Volk newspaper" ' (Ayer 21). 

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