The horror of eugenics: Disturbing images document a time when those with undesirable genetic traits were sterilised or killed in order to 'cleanse' society
- System of measuring human traits and cutting out the undesirable ones was once practised the world over
- The first sterilisation law - which stopped disabled people from having children - was passed in the US in 1907
- In 1931, Labour MP Archibald Church proposed a bill for the compulsory sterilisation of of 'mental patients'
- Gruesome sterilisation was often done without the people being informed of what was being done to them
- All legislation was eventually repealed in the 1940s - and history was then subtly rewritten
These are the horrifying photos from the heyday of the Eugenics movement that the world wants to forget.
Before the atrocities of Nazi Germany, eugenics - the system of measuring human traits, seeking out the desirable ones and cutting out the undesirable ones - was once practised the world over.
In the decades following the 1859 publication of Charles Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species', a veritable craze for eugenics spread through Britain, the United States and Europe.
Bruno Beger was a German racial anthropologist who worked for the Ahnenerbe, a project in Nazi Germany to research the archaeological and cultural history of the Aryan race. In this image taken in 1938, Dr Beger is measuring a Tibetan woman's head to demonstrate what he believed were the 'inferior' characteristics of her race
These images have been released today from the the Library of Congress archive.
Advocates of eugenics made significant advances during the early twentieth century - and claimed that 'undesirable' genetic traits such as dwarfism, deafness and even minor defects like a cleft palate needed to be wiped out of the gene pool.
Scientists would measure the human skulls of felons in an effort to eradicate criminality - whilst other eugenic proponents suggested simply cutting out entire groups of people because of the colour of their skin.
The first sterilisation law - which stopped certain categories of disabled people from having children - was passed in Indiana, USA in 1907.
This was twenty-six years before a similar law was introduced by the Nazis in Germany in 1933.
In fact, in their sterilisation propaganda, the Nazis pointed to the precedent set by America.
In one haunting image from 1912, a British family of children born with rickets is photographed by the Eugenics Society to demonstrate that their condition is hereditary and could be controlled through selective breeding.
Composite photographs (left), created to show the common faces of criminality and disease, taken from Inquiries into Human Faculty and its Development in 1883. A photograph of a Fich Henri Leon (right), a convicted criminal, with the measurements of his various body parts in Paris in 1902
Shown here are various types of Indian dwarfs and giants, photographed by the Eugenics Society to demonstrate how humans could be selectively bred to control size in 1912. As these photos make clear, for nearly 100 years, eugenics was much more than a German idea - many parts of the world were complicit
The New York City Police Department practices taking arm measurements using anthropometric methods (left) and demonstrates how to measure a criminal's cranium in (right) in 1908. From 1907 in the United States, men, women and children who were deemed 'insane, idiotic, imbecile, feebleminded or epileptic' were forcibly sterilised
Researchers (left) measure the capacity of a human skull by filling it with water in the National Academy of Sciences in 1885. Pictured right is an image of a human skull taken from the same year. After the publication of Charles Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species', a veritable craze for eugenics spread through Britain, the United States and Europe
Whilst in another photo, families from Kansas are seen competing in the 1925 'Fitter Family' contest, which was meant to find the most eugenically perfect family in America.
In another 1912 image, a child with a cleft lip poses for the camera in London, England - to show that they should be kept from breeding.
British Sir Francis Galton - a cousin of Charles Darwin -became obsessed with Origin of Species and coined the term 'Eugenics' in 1883.
He believed that breeding humans with superior mental and physical traits was essential to the well-being of society as a whole, writing 'Eugenics is the science which deals with all influences which improve the inborn qualities of a race; also with those which develop them to the utmost advantage.'
Galton was knighted for his scientific contributions and his writings played a key role in launching the eugenics movement in the UK and America.
HISTORY OF EUGENICS
In 1907, the eugenics Education Society was founded in Britain to campaign for sterilisation and marriage restrictions for the weak to prevent the degeneration of Britain's population.
In 1931, Labour MP Archibald Church proposed a bill for the compulsory sterilisation of certain categories of 'mental patient' in Parliament.
Meanwhile from 1907 in the United States, men, women and children who were deemed 'insane, idiotic, imbecile, feebleminded or epileptic' were forcibly sterilised, often without being informed of what was being done to them.
By 1938, 33 American states permitted the forced sterilisation of women with learning disabilities and 29 American states had passed compulsory sterilisation laws covering people who were thought to have genetic conditions.
All legislation was eventually repealed in the 1940s.
Portraits demonstrating the standard head shapes of 'criminal types' of various races. The images were captured in France in 1914
A child's head is measured to determine his personality and predict his future in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, in 1932. At the time it was believed the quality of an individual's genes could be determined by their skull measurements. Some eugenic proponents suggested simply cutting out entire groups of people if they had degenerative genes
In 1907, the Eugenics Education Society was founded in Britain to campaign for sterilisation and marriage restrictions for the weak to prevent the degeneration of Britain's population.
A year later, Sir James Crichton-Brown, giving evidence before the 1908 Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble-Minded, recommended the compulsory sterilisation of those with learning disabilities and mental illness - an act that Sir Winston Churchill supported.
Then in 1931, Labour MP Archibald Church proposed a bill for the compulsory sterilisation of certain categories of 'mental patient' in Parliament.
Babies compete in the 'Better Baby Contest' where doctors tried to find the perfect infant human specimen in Washinton DC in 1931. The Better Baby contests were designed to evaluate and improve families. Babies between the age of 6 and 48 months were judged on their health and the competitions aimed to establish standards for judging infant health
Families in Topeka, Kansas compete in the 'Fitter Family' contest which was designed to find the most eugenically perfect family in 1925. These contests were a popular form of eugenics education in the 1920s and were modelled on the Better Baby Contests. They exemplified 'positive eugenics' and encouraged 'fit' people to have larger families
Although such legislation was never actually passed in Britain, this did not prevent many sterilisations being carried out under various forms of coercion.
Meanwhile from 1907 in the United States, men, women and children who were deemed 'insane, idiotic, imbecile, feebleminded or epileptic' were forcibly sterilised, often without being informed of what was being done to them.
By 1938, 33 American states permitted the forced sterilisation of women with learning disabilities and 29 American states had passed compulsory sterilisation laws covering people who were thought to have genetic conditions. Laws in America also restricted the right of certain disabled people to marry.
Sometimes, however, things went even further.
A mental institution in Illinois euthanized its patients by deliberately infecting them with tuberculosis, an act they justified as a mercy killing that cut the weak link in the human race.
Shown here are composite photographs of patients with and without various diseases, created to find the common facial characteristics of people who are resistant to disease. The images were taken in London in 1912
Dr Bruno Beger measures the facial characteristics of a Tibetan man in 1938. This project was masterminded by Ernst Schäfer, a zoologist who worked for the German secret service. The aim of the project was to help the Race and Settlement Office or SS-Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt of the SS identify Jews
Photographs of 'human races,' organized to suggest a common trait shared by 'primitive' Australians, Africans, and Neanderthals
A poster warns that breeding among the unfit creates an unwanted burden on the rest of society in Philadelphia in 1926. 'Some people are born to be a burden on the rest', the poster reads.'Every 15 seconds $100 of your money goes for the care of persons with bad heredity such as the insane, feeble minded, criminals and other defectives'
French researcher Alphonse Bertillon demonstrates how to measure a human skull in Paris, France in 1894. Bertillon was a criminologist who first developed a system for measuring physical body parts - particularly of the head and face - to work out if someone might be a criminal
Photographs of 'Indian Dwarfism' from the Eugenics Society in 1912. Dwarfism refers to people who are 4 feet 10 inches or under as a result of a genetic or medical condition. Before the atrocities of Nazi Germany, eugenics - the system of measuring human traits, seeking out the desirable ones and cutting out the undesirable ones - was once practised the world over
Other countries which passed similar sterilisation laws in the 1920s and 30s included Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland.
After these kinds of ideas took root in Nazi Germany and sparked the horrors of the Holocaust, eugenics turned into a dirty word.
With the dark conclusion of its philosophy exposed before the world, it became difficult to justify forced sterilization as a tool for the greater good.
All legislation was eventually repealed in the 1940s - and history was then subtly rewritten, with eugenics discussed as something that the Germans did and from which the rest of the world could wash its hands clean.
But, as these photos make clear, for nearly 100 years, eugenics was much more than a German idea. The whole world was complicit.
A craniologist demonstrates how to measure a human skull in Sweden in 1915 (left) and a woman wears a psychograph (right), a machine designed to determine someone's mental faculties by measuring their skull in the US in 1931. Used in the early part of the twentieth century, the psychograph discerns a subject's aptitudes by looking at a person's head
A demonstration of how to measure a criminal's ear, inspired by Bertillon in Paris in 1894. Scientists would measure the human skulls of felons in an effort to eradicate criminality. The Bertillon system quickly gained acceptance as a reliable way to carry out criminial investigations and in 1884 it was used to capture 241 offenders
A convicted criminal named Albert Smit has his head measured in the Netherlands in 1896. Law enforcement created records of known criminals and their skull measurements as well as full-face photographs, now known as 'mugshots'. The system was introduced into the US in 1887
An anthropometry class learns about the different types of human noses, inspired by Bertillon (left) and French weightlifter Alexandre Maspoli (right) poses as an ideal human specimen on the cover of La Culture Physique in France in 1904. Maspoli was born in Lyon in 1875 and was amateur weightlifting champion for 19 years in a row and was also a successful sculptor
A class studies the Bertillon method of criminal identification, based on measuring body parts in Paris between 1910-1915. In 1907, the Eugenics Education Society was founded in Britain to campaign for sterilisation and marriage restrictions for the weak to prevent the degeneration of Britain's population
A woman with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism (left) in 1912, as photographed by the Eugenics Society. The notes point out that her parents and children also have achondroplasia. A humiliated-looking man with 'eunuchism' (right) allows scientists of the Eugenics Society to photograph him in the nude in the same year
A family of children born with rickets are photographed by the Eugenics Society in 1912. In 1907, the Eugenics Education Society was founded in Britain to campaign for sterilisation and marriage restrictions for the weak to prevent the degeneration of Britain's population
Children afflicted with rickets, photographed by the Eugenics Society in 1912 to demonstrate that their condition is hereditary and could be controlled through selective breeding. Sir James Crichton-Brown, a leading psychiatrist, recommended the compulsory sterilisation of those with learning disabilities and mental illness - an act that Sir Winston Churchill supported
A phrenologist demonstrates how to measure a person's head in the United Kingdom in 1937. In 1931, Labour MP Archibald Church proposed a bill for the compulsory sterilisation of certain categories of 'mental patient' in Parliament. Although such legislation was never actually passed in Britain, this did not prevent many sterilisations being carried out under various forms of coercion
A phrenologist demonstrates how to measure the mental energy inside of a woman's head in London in 1937. By 1938, 33 American states permitted the forced sterilisation of women with learning disabilities and 29 American states had passed compulsory sterilisation laws covering people who were thought to have genetic conditions
A map illustration revealing which states in the United States have laws condoning forced sterilisation in New York in 1921 (left). A photograph of a child with a cleft lip (right), taken to demonstrate the type of child that should be kept from breeding in London in 1912
A Eugenics and Health Exhibit teaches the crowd how illiteracy can be controlled through selective breeding in the US (date unknown). The first sterilisation law - which stopped certain categories of disabled people from having children - was passed in Indiana, USA in 1907. This was twenty-six years before a similar law was introduced by the Nazis in Germany in 1933
A photograph from the Eugenics Society showing a family with the 'lobster claw' deformity, meant as a demonstration of a hereditary defect in 1912. A mental institution in Illinois euthanized its patients by deliberately infecting them with tuberculosis, an act they justified as a mercy killing that cut the weak link in the human race
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