Deutsche Rassenköpfe – 43 preisgekrönte Bilder aus einem Wettbewerb Von Dr. B. K. Schultz J. F. Lehmanns Verlag München – “German Racial Faces” – 43 award-winning photographs from the Racial Purity Competition, by Dr. Bruno K. Schultz. Published by J.F. Lehmann, Munich. A perfect copy with the original dust jacket. An attempt to illustrate the principles underlying the most destructive theory in human history. Rare.
A Nazi publication that appeared in 1935, published by J.F. Lehmanns Verlag under the sponsorship of the Munich-based journal Volk und Rasse (“People and Race”). Edited by Dr. Bruno K. Schultz, a German physician and anthropologist, the book was intended to promote ideas of Aryan racial superiority and to justify the racial segregation and discrimination policies of the Nazi regime. The book presents 43 photographic plates of individuals selected in a competition organized by Volk und Rasse, aimed at classifying the various “racial types” in Germany as defined by Nazi racial theory.
“The photo collection published here, created following the competition held by the magazine ‘Volk und Rasse’ for typical representatives of the most significant races represented in Germany, is intended to present worthy representatives of these races and to train our eyes to recognize the characteristic individual racial features.” In the introduction, Schultz details the physical characteristics of the facial structures of the various individuals who participated in the competition, classifying each according to their Nordic, Phalian, Eastern, Dinaric, or Mediterranean-Western origins.
The photographs are accompanied by annotations emphasizing the physical traits and the character attributed to each race, as well as the subject’s origin and the background of their parents (for example: “Nordic, ” “Father from Dresden, mother from Lausitz, ” etc.), and the prize they won (first prize, second prize, etc.), according to the “perfection” and “purity” of the Aryan race. The first prize was awarded to a fully “Nordic” individual—whose portrait appears on the cover of the book—according to Nazi racial doctrine.
SS officer and anthropologist Bruno K. Schultz (who authored the book’s introduction) developed a method for testing racial purity that included the examination of twenty-one physical criteria—among them: shape of the skull, facial structure, nasal bridge, hair type, hair color, eye color, skin tone, and more. Each was assigned precise measurements (which, after the war, were proven to be entirely fabricated and scientifically baseless), along with ratios between them, based on which the subject’s racial origin was determined.
In the introduction, Schultz explains that the purpose of holding the competition and publishing the “winners” was to preserve the genetic heritage of the German people, which had been “plundered”: “We must thank the leader of the German people and his closest associates for the fact that the German people are beginning to become aware of their racial values and are consciously fighting for the improvement of their race.” He goes on to explain the meaning of the term “race”: “‘Race’ is a scientific term. By race we mean a larger group of people characterized by a number of physical and psychological traits that can be clearly identified and that distinguish them from other groups of people. These racial traits are passed down from generation to generation; they are hereditary… If we consider this knowledge in full and the current conclusions drawn from it, it will be clear to every German that what matters is the genetic heritage of the German people and that, above all, it must be preserved. Until now, the most important German race, the Nordic race, has been irresponsibly plundered. If the German people want to be and remain leaders in the intellectual and cultural spheres, there is only one path: the cultivation and special care of that race to which we owe our existence, our essence, and all our meaning—the principal race of the German people, the Nordics. The races that have been absorbed must in no way be neglected; they will receive the state treatment that their importance to the nation as a whole requires.”
The book was distributed in schools, educational institutions, and Nazi organizations as part of the effort to shape public consciousness in accordance with official ideology. The foreword notes that the book would assist boys and girls in choosing the right partner.
Rare. Only one copy listed in the global library catalog WorldCat.
16 [48] pages. Tears (restored) and minor losses to the spine and upper edges of the dust jacket. Body of the book in very good condition.
