# Hitler's Aryan race **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 14, 2004, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366 "2004-01-14T06:17:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/1 "2004-01-14T06:17:32Z")
So, since Hitler himself didn’t have blond hair or blue eyes, what did he plan to do once the “perfect” race was created? Since blond hair, blue eyed, Aryans were supposed to be superior, would he bow down to his new Aryan masters? Would he die his hair and…well, I don’t think that they had contacts lenses at the time… Anyway, what did he think his role was supposed to be? ---
**Author:** ![pcroughn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/977dab/32.png) [@pcroughn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pcroughn)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/2 "2004-01-14T15:00:08Z")
Look, I don’t think anyone said it was a _good_ plan. ---
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/3 "2004-01-14T15:21:28Z")
Let’s assume the plan had some logically basis ( :rolleyes: a stretch I know) - it surely had to be a long term plan. It was after all going to be a Thousand Year Reich… I guess Hitler didn’t think he would still be around to bear (poor) comparison with the results of their master race breeding programme. BTW if you think he looked a doggy character you should have a look at photos of the rest of the gang - Goebbels (sp?) especially. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/4 "2004-01-14T15:38:55Z")
“The perfect Aryan is tall like Goebbels, thin like Goering, and blond like Hitler”-German anti-Nazi joke. I think the Nazi racial theorist answer was, although the archetypal Nordic Aryan had blond hair and blue eyes, that didn’t neccesarily mean that all of them did. There had been, in the past, inferior bloodlines mixing themselves with the Nordic subrace, which manifested itself in dark hair and eyes. The “blood polution” might have been so long ago and so minor that it doesn’t impact on the person’s character or worth as a person. It just has caused them to have dark hair. And, yeah, Hitler would be long dead by the time the blood was purified. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/5 "2004-01-14T15:50:57Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > … although the archetypal Nordic Aryan had blond hair and blue eyes … Being a 6’4" blond blue eyed Swede, I guess I fit the stereotype. However, it’s wrong. The original nordic people (vikings and before that) were more ‘strawberry’ blond or outright redheads with very pale eyes. Something like Scottish or Picts, IIRC. The blond/blue eye got imported from Slavic countries, notably from Russia via Finland. And we all know what Hitler thought about the lavic people. Me thinks it was mostly rethorics in combination with an international _zeitgeist_ (sic!) about taking humans apart and trying to find out what makes them tick. Phrenology and weird medical experiments were going on around the world, not only in Germany. Of course, the Germans, with their industrious thoroughness took it to the extremes, leading up to genocide. But anyone who thinks that the Nazi’s hands were dirty, while they were clean in most other parts of the world, need to study up on some history. That’s a subject for another post, though. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/6 "2004-01-14T16:26:45Z")
> [@The Gaspode](#): > > Being a 6’4" blond blue eyed Swede, I guess I fit the stereotype. However, it’s wrong. > The original nordic people (vikings and before that) were more ‘strawberry’ blond or outright redheads with very pale eyes. Something like Scottish or Picts, IIRC. The blond/blue eye got imported from Slavic countries, notably from Russia via Finland. And we all know what Hitler thought about the lavic people. There you go bringing facts into it again! There’s no room for facts in 19th and early 20th century racial theory. 🙂 But yes, you’re right, of course, that blondness pretty certainly came to Scandanavia from Russia. But, it didn’t in the theory…🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/7 "2004-01-14T16:46:30Z")
Oh, I see, his plan would have taken several decades to impliment. I would ask how he planned to “purify” the blood line, but I can look that up on Google. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Flash-57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/839c29/32.png) [@Flash-57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flash-57)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/8 "2004-01-14T16:48:53Z")
Also keep in mind that Hitler was insane. Insane people don’t really think their plans all the way through. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/9 "2004-01-14T16:57:15Z")
If mr hitler was serious about racial purity, then he would have had to have sent himself to the gas chambers. From [here](http://www.abelard.org/hitler/hitler.htm) > [@](#): > > Hitler’s father, Alois, was the ‘illegitimate’ son of Maria Anna Schicklgruber—she refused to name the father. This has led to much speculation, but the reality is that we have no certainty as to the father. Thus, Hitler was unable to produce the certificate of origin he required of every German citizen on hazard of death. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/10 "2004-01-14T17:15:01Z")
A good portion of the Nazis’ views on German racial purity were based on a book by the Roman historian Tacitus (I think), in which he discusses how the tribes living in what is now Germany seemed to be the least racially mixed (and thus _purer_) than most others. I don’t have any of the cites handy, but if you’re interested, and this thread is still alive tomorrow, I’ll dig them up. The Nazis went to great lengths to get a hold of as old a copy of this book as they could, hoping to give their views some authority. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/11 "2004-01-14T17:19:31Z")
> [@Joel](#): > > Oh, I see, his plan would have taken several decades to impliment. > > I would ask how he planned to “purify” the blood line, but I can look that up on Google. > > Thanks. Not decades…the plan involved centuries. And they planned on doing it by a eugenics program…controlled breeding. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/12 "2004-01-14T18:06:45Z")
Moved to GD. - **xash** General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![labmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f19dbf/32.png) [@labmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labmonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/13 "2004-01-14T18:44:10Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > There you go bringing facts into it again! There’s no room for facts in 19th and early 20th century racial theory. 🙂 > > But yes, you’re right, of course, that blondness pretty certainly came to Scandanavia from Russia. But, it didn’t in the theory…🙂 This is starting to go way off course, but didn’t in fact the Rus introduce these traits to the Slavs in present day Russia? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Milton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6bbea6/32.png) [@Mr.Milton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Milton)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/14 "2004-01-14T18:54:01Z")
Apparently, the Nazi racial theorists had an out in that within the so-called Aryans, there were said to be sub-types such as the Nordic (like Gaspode) and the Alpine (like perhaps Hitler and his associates). To amplify further on Capt. Amazing, yes, it would have taken many centuries had they been allowed to continue it. It of course totally ignores genetics and the idea of recessive and dominant traits, etc. but there was little or nothing scientific about their “science”. Himmler for one apparently believed that once the “volk” was “purified”, the pure Aryans might well rediscover their allegedly numerous super-powers such as telekenisis. What Nazis believed about their supposed Aryan race and so on seems to cover a wide spectrum and to judge from various Nazi writings appears to have been inconsistent. Unfortunately, there are still those who subscribe to various versions of these beliefs, as can be seen from browsing the internet. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/15 "2004-01-14T20:29:45Z")
Interestingly, when Charlie Chaplin filmed _The Great Dictator_, he explicitly made fun of “Adenoid Hynkel” for his goal of being a short, dark-haired man ruling a world populated by tall blondes. (Years later, Chaplin was quoted (autobiography? interview?) as saying that he had considered Hitler a buffoon, and that, had he known how truly evil the Nazis were, he’d have not made the film.) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/16 "2004-01-14T22:08:04Z")
> [@xash](#): > > Moved to GD. I do not wish to start something but why was this moved? Doesn’t look much like a debate to me. Everybody was pretty much agreeing and was expanding on the answers of others. 😕 Of course, that move may have been pre-emptive before the neo-Nazis showed up. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/17 "2004-01-14T22:59:48Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Of course, that move may have been pre-emptive before the neo-Nazis showed up. :eek: Wha? Who called? I always though my family got its red hair from the Irish. Now you say it has been there all along. Having known how truly evil they were, why would Chaplin not have made the movie? Humour is a great weapon to use against fanatics. You can always know the extremists and fanatics (of any colour) by their complete lack of humour. The Nazis already had functioning breeding programs. Brothels of a kind where SS soldiers could go and impregnate some blond women. Many children were begotten there. Also a few years back, it surfaced they had fairly detailed plans on large scale use of Danish women as breeding cows in such brothels once the war was won. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/18 "2004-01-15T01:29:19Z")
I don’t have a cite, but I remember Hitler got legislation passed that he (and Jesus Christ) could never be examined for racial traits (there is some speculation he thought he had a jewish grandfather, and some in the early Nazi party appearently called him on it if I remember correctly). So he took care of this little problem early. Basically a LOT of Germans didn’t fit the stereotype, even those that came from ‘unquestionably Aryan’ bloodlines. That was what counted…your pedigry, again, if I’m remember correctly. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/19 "2004-01-15T01:31:46Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Interestingly, when Charlie Chaplin filmed _The Great Dictator_, he explicitly made fun of “Adenoid Hynkel” for his goal of being a short, dark-haired man ruling a world populated by tall blondes. > (Years later, Chaplin was quoted (autobiography? interview?) as saying that he had considered Hitler a buffoon, and that, had he known how truly evil the Nazis were, he’d have not made the film.) Out of interest, I’ve never actually seen that film (although I would dearly like to). How highly is it regarded? Was it one of Chaplin’s best works, or is it more famous for it’s subject matter than anything else? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366/20 "2004-01-15T02:35:29Z")
Well, given that your actual Aryans were short, swarthy and black-haired, the theory had some practical probnlems … [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitlers-aryan-race/224366.md?page=2)