# How could Hitler have promoted Aryan superiority when he doesn't look Aryan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2007, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991 "2007-07-16T16:01:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/21 "2007-07-17T06:46:29Z")
[QUOTE=Atomicktom] and if Aryans are blond haired and blue eyed [/QUOTE] Well, that’s where your error is: Aryans are _not_ necessarily blond haired and blue eyed. Hitler had medium brown hair and blue eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Spit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/22 "2007-07-17T13:10:35Z")
[QUOTE=Mosier] It’s easy to just call it shallow hypocrisy and not look any deeper into the question, but it doesn’t tell the whole truth. Nazis weren’t hostile to all non-Aryans. They wanted to create a master race out of what they thought were the best human traits, not necessarily condemn anyone who didn’t have those traits already. Hardly anyone met the Nazi Aryan ideal. **It was a goal that the Nazi eugenics program was working toward**. Nazi hostility to fringe groups like Jews and the mentally ill has almost nothing to do with their desire to create a eugenic master race. They hated Jews for being Jews, not because they weren’t blond. [/QUOTE] Agreed. This was a goal that was going to take a few generations to complete. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/23 "2007-07-17T13:19:12Z")
Reminds me of the scene where Hitler marries Eva Braun in the film “Downfall.” An apologetic official asks Hitler to declare himself to be of non-inferior stock before the ceremony. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/24 "2007-07-17T13:26:04Z")
Thanks for the insights. It always seemed ludicrous to me, as if a guy 5’1" was running around telling people that only tall people were worthy of being in charge. I guess it takes a lunatic to proffer lunacy, and he has to be _really_ insane for anybody else to believe him. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/25 "2007-07-17T14:35:20Z")
What was the name of the Nazi leader who was assassinated in Hungary? Heydrich? Apparently he was held up as the shining example of pure Aryan ideals. Yes, he looked like a Ken Doll and yes, he was an evil bastard under his blond, blue eyed looks. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/26 "2007-07-17T14:44:17Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] Would \*\*\*you \*\*\*want to be the guy to go up to Hitler and ask, “Excuse me, Führer, but you look more Jewish than Aryan.”? [/QUOTE] Not unless you wanted him to say “Really, well you’ll look nice in a coffin” ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/27 "2007-07-17T15:34:51Z")
Hitler was 5’8". ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/28 "2007-07-17T15:38:12Z")
There was a great wartime New Yorker cartoon. Hitler is on a huge dais, gilded eagles, banners, endless rows of faceless SS men in the audience stretch into the distance. Hitler says, “So I think I can say without fear of contradiction …” ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/29 "2007-07-17T15:43:28Z")
[QUOTE=David Simmons] I don’t believe there are any physical markers that definitely identify race with any degree of certainty. In fact[the whole concept of race is suspect.](http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f00/web2/ramon2.html)Human physical variation is a continuum with a lot of overlapping across the boundries of what used to be known as separate “races.” I realize the cite is from one of those effete, eastern colleges, Bryn Mawr, but it seems to reflect the consensus of the biological scientists. [/QUOTE] Be that as it may, forensic scientists have a [different consensus](http://www.pbs.org/saf/1203/teaching/teaching2.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/30 "2007-07-17T15:57:53Z")
[QUOTE=Hypno-Toad] What was the name of the Nazi leader who was assassinated in Hungary? Heydrich? [/QUOTE] [Reinhard Heydrich](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Heydrich), our history teacher mentioned him for that reason. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/31 "2007-07-17T16:16:24Z")
Because Hitler **did** look Aryan: Blue eyes – check Blond hair – check (at least, when he was younger – it darkened with age). His hair looks dark becaue black and white film tends to darken hair colors except for platinum blond. Hitler’s self-image (formed when a youth) was that of blond hair and blue eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/32 "2007-07-17T16:53:10Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] His hair looks dark becaue black and white film tends to darken hair colors except for platinum blond. [/QUOTE] Oh, good point. A lot of us have probably been deluded into thinking we know what Hitler looks like from having seen actors playing Hitler, cartoons of Hitler, etc., when we’ve never actually seen a color picture of Hitler himself. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/33 "2007-07-17T17:55:01Z")
[QUOTE=OttoDaFe] Can’t find a good cite offhand, but I believe that they depended a good deal on the size and shape of the skull. They had five or six categories, of which three were “acceptable” and could join the Party and the SS, while the rest were not. [/QUOTE] As an aside to this (just to further debunk the whole “master race” idea), the movie Europa Europa is a true story of a young German Jewish man who passes as a non-jew, and infact winds up serving in the SS (or SA - I can’t remember which). The movie details his good luck throughout the war and how he manages to evade detection (eg - they can’t find his records and he’s about to be found out but then the record office gets blown up by allied troops, the person discovers that he’s circumcised gets killed, he’s trying to escape but accidentally stumbles on an allied strong hold where all the soldiers have been killed and is believed to have killed them, etc) At one point he’s attending a school for Hitler’s youth - the belief amongst the teachers/administration is that he is a war hero. The teacher of one class starts describing the “inferior jew” and how "jews have sloping forheads and big jaws, and blah de blah. The teacher then calls up our hero and holds him up as an example of a _ideal aryan man with an ideal shaped head_. Anyhow - not exactly a site, but an interesting aside. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/34 "2007-07-17T17:59:02Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] Oh, good point. A lot of us have probably been deluded into thinking we know what Hitler looks like from having seen actors playing Hitler, cartoons of Hitler, etc., when we’ve never actually seen a color picture of Hitler himself. [/QUOTE] In addition, photos were of Hitler as an adult, after his hair had darkened. As a child, his hair was a dirty blond. And observers of Hitler have mentioned his blue eyes – they made comment on how the blue stood out. ---
**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:** [July 17, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/35 "2007-07-17T18:32:04Z")
Here’s a color picture of Hitler, btw: [http://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/germans/hitler\_001](http://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/germans/hitler_001) I also want to repeat, because I don’t think anyone paid attention, that Aryan isn’t the same thing as Nordic. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/36 "2007-07-17T19:00:13Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] In addition, photos were of Hitler as an adult, after his hair had darkened. As a child, his hair was a dirty blond. [/QUOTE] Okay, so I buy this, but only so far. In the picture **Captain Amazing** linked, it looks like Hitler has about the same color of hair as my husband does now - a darkish auburn-brown. And it’s true - my husband was a tow-headed little blonde boy growing up. But SpouseO certainly didn’t spend “his childhood” as a blonde - I first met him when he was 14 and he certainly had dark hair then. I’m guessing that his hair started to darken to brown starting when he was 10, tops. My brother’s the same way - bleach blonde little boy, medium brown haired 13-year-old. I can’t speak for them, or for Hitler either, but I’d feel fairly safe betting that both my husband and my brother don’t self-identify as blondes because they happened to have blonde hair as children. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/37 "2007-07-17T19:29:50Z")
No, but I assume your husband is more sane. 🙂 But since Hitler had bought into the Aryan ideal, he was more likely to remember his blond hair. I’m sure he knew it wasn’t any more, but he could justify the blond hair thing on the basis that he was a former blond. ---
**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:** [July 17, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/38 "2007-07-17T20:12:21Z")
and one more time…Aryan doesn’t equal blond hair. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/39 "2007-07-17T20:16:35Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] Here’s a color picture of Hitler, btw: [http://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/germans/hitler\_001](http://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/germans/hitler_001) [/QUOTE] Well, ignoring his hair and eyes for a moment, there sure as hell is something wrong with the front of his pants! Is he wearing a diaper?!?! ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991/40 "2007-07-17T20:47:03Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Be that as it may, forensic scientists have a [different consensus](http://www.pbs.org/saf/1203/teaching/teaching2.htm). [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > “…it is clear that race does mean different things to different people. In the context of forensic anthropology, the term race is unambiguous.” > > - Stan Rhine, PhD [http://library.med.utah.edu/kw/osteo/forensics/race.html](http://library.med.utah.edu/kw/osteo/forensics/race.html) The word is “context.” If you’re trying to describe a skeleton, certain physical classifications can be useful. In the context of cultural anthropology, we deal with the _concept_ of race. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-hitler-have-promoted-aryan-superiority-when-he-doesnt-look-aryan/411991.md?page=3)