Hans Günther provided the Nazi Party with yet more evidence to support their racial theories. Günther became a professor of racial research at the University of Jena and was held in high regard by many in the senior levels of the Nazi Party.

 

Hans Günther was born in Freiburg on February 16th 1891. His writings combined racial theories with the status of the hero and he became famous for his hero building mysticism. His book, ‘A Short Ethnology of the German People’ came out in 1929 and sold more than 275,000 copies and went through many editions. Günther’s writings provided the Nazi Party with a basis to support their racial theories. Despite strong opposition at the university, Günther was appointed Professor of Ethnology at Jena in 1931. The main basis behind his teaching was the supremacy of the Nordic race and the impact the Jews had on European society to the detriment of other racial groups.

 

Günther believed that there were five European races:

 

Nordic

 

Mediterranean

 

Dinaric

 

Alpine

 

East Baltic

 

He stated that the Jews did not even belong to Europe and that they came from outside its perimeters. Günther wrote about that Jews that they were:

 

“A thing of ferment and disturbance, a wedge driven by Asia into the European structure.”

 

Günther believed that the Jews were responsible for such “degenerative movements” as democracy and liberalism.

 

Günther believed that it was the responsibility of the Nordic race to make a stand against the Jews before Europe toppled:

 

“We wish to keep the thought always before us that, if our race is not to perish, it is a question of not choosing a Nordic mate, but over and above this , of helping our race through our marriage to a victorious birth rate.”

 

Günther believed that all Nordic people came ‘from the soil’ and that all Germans had to have an “organic philosophy of life”. Günther was opposed to individualism. He believed that Germans could learn all they needed to learn by studying Germany’s past.

 

Günther did not see World War One as a war between super powers. He believed that it was a civil war and that the ‘same people’ were fighting one another to their detriment. He believed that for Europe to survive the Nordic people had to stand together as one entity. If they did not he was pessimistic about Europe’s future.

 

Hans Günther became an intellectual spokesperson for the Nazi Party. He died on September 25th 1968.

 

September 2012