Erblehre, Abstammungs- und Rassenkunde und Rassenkunde in bildlicher Darstellung von Alfred Vogel - Heredity, Ethnology and Racial Science, Pictorial Representation, Text by Alfred Vogel, Illustrations by Eberhard Brauchle, published by Verlag für nationale Literatur Gebr. Rath - Teaching plates on racial theory for primary and secondary schools, Stuttgart 1938/1939.
Volume of large cardboard teaching plates presents Nazi racial theory through paintings, diagrams and photos - the superiority of the Aryan race, and the danger of "inferior" races - accompanied by "scientific" explanations for high school students in Nazi Germany. The boards before us were released as supplementary material accompanying his textbook on this subject "Erblehre und Rassenkunde für die Grund- und Hauptschule". The boards are divided into two groups: The first part deals with the laws of heredity presented by the biologist Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) in his research. These boards contain paintings and diagrams illustrating various genetic experiments and research in plants. The second group deals with the study of heredity and racial theory. Using paintings, diagrams, photographs and more, these boards present the antisemitic racist theory of Aryan superiority and the inferiority of other races.
The first boards explain the products created by crossbreeding plants using diagrams and color paintings, and continue the analogy of crossbreeding different races in humans, where "sick" parents produce "sick" children, and show the severe consequences of individuals with "undesirable" character traits mating with those of "good" character traits. The diagrams depict cell division and inheritance of genetic material in plants and passing on quality genetic material through crossbreeding with high quality plant species, as opposed to the defective product composed of defective genetic material. And by analogy to passing on genetic material to humans, the boards demonstrate how physical defects along with mental defects are passed down from fathers to offspring, and demonstrate the genetic influence according to regions, and more.
In the second part as a conclusion from the foundations laid down in the first part,
the plates deal with the inferior nature of Jews in terms of race. Under the title "The German People and the Jews", the author describes the genetic traits of what he calls the "sub-race" of Jews, a decadent culture, corrupt morality, love of money, the conspiracy to dominate the world, and the danger of defiling the "superior" Aryan race. At the bottom of some plates appear quotes and sentences reflecting the racist and antisemitic principles of the Nazi Party. In an attempt to establish racial laws as scientific truth, he argues the absurd claim that the racial science presented here is also accepted by Jews themselves - under the title: "Haemophilia in Judaism" plate 26 depicts a diagram stating that according to Judaism it is also forbidden to perform a Brit Milah on a child if two of his brothers died during Brit Milah, concluding from this that Judaism recognizes the laws of heredity as presented here. Subsequently, several plates depict diagrams describing the decline in German births, characterization of hereditary illnesses among the German people, negative effects of mingling the Aryan race with inferior races, and demonstrating how the principle of "survival of the fittest" in plants is also embodied in human races, concluding that only through sterilization can hereditary illnesses rampant in the German people be eliminated, and promotion of families with pure blood, stating: "In 1933, birth rates reached the lowest point... The Nazi worldview educates the German people anew in the sense of maintaining the fertility of the people". In this context appears a board under the title: "Promotion of the People's Families" depicting the pure German family and how it must be preserved. Another plate aims to encourage German births under the title: "Germany Must Once Again Become a Land of Children".
Further on, some plates deal with common hereditary traits identified between apes and humans, in an attempt to prove the principles of racial theory - Aryan supremacy and the inferiority of the Jewish race, and a warning against race-mixing. In this context the editor writes: "The study of monkeys in the classroom must never be an aim in itself. This is the means by which racial awareness and understanding of the state's steps to promote the race among German youth... The student must be deeply convinced that the Nazi worldview with an emphasis on inheritance and refinement shows the only correct path for preserving our race... The driving force behind unnatural worldviews is the Jew... The Führer identified this danger threatening our race, and therefore exposed the Jews before the world public at the 1936 Nazi Party rally as our immortal enemy... The task of teaching must therefore be to show the Jew in his essence and present the contradiction between the German man and the Jew, so that future generations can also prevent the looming threat of our racial decay...".
Plates: 40x30 cm. Kept in original cardboard and cloth cover. 53 Plates (out of 78). Plates: 10-15, 17-27, 29-44, 46-58, 60-64, 75. Minor tears on spine, plates in very good condition.
