The German Media: The Myth of the "Aryans"

Blond hair, blue eyes, robust physique – this was the ideal "Aryan" in the Nazis' eyes. Even today, most people still associate the term with the racial ideology of the Third Reich. Yet its origins are completely different from what one might imagine.

The "Aryan" ideal promoted by the Nazis, based on Nordic bloodlines, was less a universal norm and more an exception.

Thus, lineage was crucial: Starting in 1935, all German citizens had to provide an "Aryan certificate" proving they had no Jewish or Sinti/Roma ancestry, going back at least three generations. Civil servants, doctors, and lawyers were required to submit such proof as early as 1933. People often spent considerable time researching their family histories before submitting their results for verification to the "Imperial Genealogical Research Office."

The Nazis claimed that the German people belonged to an "elite race," while Jews were deemed an "inferior race." They were first systematically excluded and then murdered. In propaganda films, the Nazis asserted that Jews aimed to destroy world order and seize power and leadership from the "master race." In comics, especially in hate-filled publications like *Der Stürmer*, Jews were caricatured as having hooked noses and greedy expressions.

To the Nazis, other groups also fit the so-called "Aryan" profile, particularly those from the Nordic and Scandinavian regions. In occupied territories such as Latvia and Poland, some blond-haired, blue-eyed children were forcibly taken from their mothers and sent to special institutions for "Germanization"—a concept proposed by SS leader Heinrich Himmler, who hoped it would promote the proliferation of the "superior race."

Where did the Aryans actually come from?

Although the term "Aryan" was widely used in Germany at the time, Nazi "racial scientists" rarely employed it. They were well aware that the word originally referred to linguistic connections rather than heritable physical traits.

Archaeological findings show that the term "Aryan" has existed for over two millennia. Around 500 BCE, Persian King Darius I carved a tomb into a rock at Naqsh-e Rostam in present-day Iran. The inscription reads: "I am Darius, the Great King … a Persian, son of a Persian, an Aryan …" The word also appears in ancient Sanskrit texts from India.

The term "Arya" originally meant "noble" or "honorable" and was used by certain peoples in India and Iran as a self-designation. These were descendants of nomadic tribes who migrated from regions now corresponding to Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and southern Russia. Later, scholars discovered strong similarities between most European languages and Sanskrit and Persian, leading them to classify the Aryans as part of the Indo-European language family.

The Racial Misinterpretation

The term "Aryan" was first distorted by racists in the mid-19th century. French writer and diplomat Joseph Arthur de Gobineau, in his four-volume work *On the Inequality of Human Races* (written between 1853 and 1855), concluded that "the Aryan white race" was superior to all others, possessing "intellect far surpassing other races" and destined to rule them. At the same time, he warned against racial mixing, arguing it would jeopardize the purity of the "original Aryan race" and ultimately threaten humanity's well-being.

Gobineau’s theories initially received little attention from contemporaries, but decades after publication, they gained increasing acceptance. Many scientists and scholars built upon his ideas, writing their own papers. One such figure was Houston Stewart Chamberlain, a British scholar. In 1899, he published *The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century*, elevating Gobineau’s racial theories to new heights.

Chamberlain strongly advocated for the German "Germanic race." However, he recognized that not all Germans met the ideal physical type defined by Gobineau, so he emphasized values he believed were determined by bloodline—honesty, loyalty, and diligence—as shared characteristics of the German people. He portrayed the "Jewish race" as a threat to the "Germanic Aryan," claiming Jews lacked creativity and idealism, focusing solely on material gain.

Chamberlain acknowledged that a few Jews could possess noble qualities, but he simultaneously stressed that, compared to Aryans, they were "incapable and inferior." His writings enjoyed widespread popularity in Germany. Among his admirers was Kaiser Wilhelm II, who invited him repeatedly to court.

From a biological scientific standpoint, it has long been proven that there are no distinct "races" among humans. The Nazis abused the term "Aryan" to justify their inhumane ideology. To this day, racists around the world continue to use this term.

Source: DW

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1864689393624076/

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