Originally published 1922 | ||
 | ||
Similar The racial elements of European, The Races of Europe, The Foundations of the Nin, The Passing of the Great, The Myth of the Twentieth | ||
Rassenkunde des deutschen Volkes (English: Racial Science of the German People), is a book written by German race researcher and Nazi Party member Hans Günther and published in 1922. The book strongly influenced the racial policy of Nazi Party; Adolf Hitler was so impressed by the work, that he made it the basis of his eugenics policy. The book had gone through six editions by 1926, and by 1945, more than half a million copies had been sold in Germany.
In the book, Günther recognizes the Germans as being composed of five Aryan racial subtypes: Nordic, Mediterranean, Alpine, East Baltic, and Dinaric, viewing Nordics as being at the top of the racial hierarchy. He defined each racial subtype according to general physical appearance and their psychological qualities including their "racial soul" - referring to their emotional traits and religious beliefs, and provided detailed information on their hair, eye, and skin colours, facial structure. He provided photographs of Germans identified as Nordic in places like Bedan, Stuttgart, Salzburg, and Schwaben; and provided photographs of Germans he identified as Alpine and Mediterranean types, especially in Vorarlberg, Bavaria, and the Black Forest region of Baden.