# What benign concepts can be said to have originated in Nazi Germany?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 27, 2015, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451 "2015-12-27T05:19:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/22 "2015-12-28T13:37:21Z")

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Of course, benefits for workers under the Nazis have to be weighed against the banning of trade unions and strikes, plus loss of income (wages went down a little, cost of living went up quite a bit more).

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**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/23 "2015-12-28T14:07:06Z")

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> [@dtilque](#):
>
> But is it a positive or negative point?

Are you joking?

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**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/24 "2015-12-28T14:13:13Z")

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Were Nazi-era scientists in Germany the first to scientifically research the carcinogenic effects of nicotine? How unique was their research in this field?

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**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/25 "2015-12-28T14:18:03Z")

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> **[The Nazis' Forgotten Anti-Smoking Campaign](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/07/the-nazis-forgotten-anti-smoking-campaign/373766/)**
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> The Third Reich viewed tobacco as a threat to the health of the "chosen folk."

In 1939, German scientist Franz Müller presented the first epidemiological study linking tobacco use and cancer. In 1943, a paper prepared by German scientists Eberhard Schairer and Erich Schöniger at Jena University confirmed this study, and convincingly established for the first time that cigarette smoking is a direct cause of lung cancer.

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**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/26 "2015-12-29T06:19:58Z")

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> [@Green\_Bean](#):
>
> Are you joking?

Mostly. But the modern freeway has not been an unadulterated benefit to civilization.

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**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/27 "2015-12-29T10:54:11Z")

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> [@dtilque](#):
>
> the modern freeway has not been an unadulterated benefit to civilization.

Something it has in common with quite a few useful and significant developments.

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**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-benign-concepts-can-be-said-to-have-originated-in-nazi-germany/741451/28 "2015-12-29T16:49:50Z")

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> [@astro](#):
>
> Non-judgmental about out of wedlock births and sexually liberal if you were heterosexual

And male.  
And of the approved kind of racial stock.  
And produced children who were not disabled.

BTW, I always understood the Autobahnen were proposed and planned under previous governments, but got massive funding under the Nazis as a win-win to provide employment relatively quickly and improve military infrastructure.

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