The Nazi Ancestral Proof: Genealogy, Racial Science, and the Final Solution

by Eric Ehrenreich

How could Germans, inhabitants of the most scientifically advanced nation in the world in the early 20th century, have espoused the inherently unscientific racist doctrines put forward by the Nazi leadership? Eric Ehrenreich traces the widespread acceptance of Nazi policies requiring German individuals to prove their Aryan ancestry to the popularity of ideas about eugenics and racial science that were advanced in the late Imperial and Weimar periods by practitioners of genealogy and eugenics. After the enactment of Nazi racial laws in the 1930s, the Reich Genealogical Authority, employing professional genealogists, became the providers and arbiters of the ancestral proof. This is the first detailed study of the operation of the ancestral proof in the Third Reich and the link between Nazi racism and earlier German genealogical practices. The widespread acceptance of this racist ideology by ordinary Germans helped create the conditions for the Final Solution.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

234 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1994

Reviews

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you, Eric Ehrenreich, for "The Nazi Ancestral Proof:...". Your work has proven invaluable in my research of my family line. A distant cousin passed along a genealogical account of my maternal relatives, written by a relative beginning about 1934. It is very well documented as well as full of appropriate descriptions of patriotism and adherence to Protestantism.
We don't know if the work was in fact, actually submitted to authorities to attain acceptable "status." However , the author continued work on the genealogical study up until his death in Germany, 1967. The document is now held in the State Archive, Muenster.
Beyond the light shed on the "Ancestral Proof" created by my distant relative, your book clearly describes how people, communities can be and have been transformed in thought and action. Particularly chilling in today's climate!

[ACRL]

Read by ACRL Member of the Week Erika Linke. Learn more about Erika on the ACRL Insider blog.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the best explanations I have found for the rise and acceptance of racist ideology in Nazi Germany. Highly recommended.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting argument about how regular Germans could accept Nazi racist ideology, despite its inherent irrationality.