Massin, Benoit <br/><br/>
Apprendre à classer et à sélectionner 

 -  2005.<br/>							 
<br/><br/> 72 
<br/><br/> In his paper, the author states that eugenics and « race science » should be distinguished as disciplines that were taught in German universities between the years 1930-1945. A third related field was Kriminalbiologie, a biological theory of crime, which suggested medical solutions in order to eradicate social evils. This paper demonstrates that eugenics, “racial science” and Kriminalbiologie have been taught in German universities, particularly so in medical faculties, long before Hitler’s take-over in 1933. The author also demonstrates that the German medical profession was impregnated with such ideas bearing academic sciences’ aura. What these three disciplines had in common, however, was first, a desire to classify mankind according to what was established as scientific categories ; second, a hereditary view of human traits, behavior and medical conditions ; third, a value judgment on these categories based on social norms ; and fourth, a therapeutic impulse. Classifying meant that each segment of the population – in Germany as well as in the occupied territories – was divided into a number of categories. Each group in turn was divided into subgroups. Then, each category and sub-category were viewed as more or less “valuable” for the collective interest of the “Great German Reich”. Given the hereditary point of view, only a biological “solution” was consistent. Finally, a “selection” was carried out with consequent treatments. The Nazi regime can be seen as a vast system of social engineering based on “selection” according to medical, socio-biological and racial categories. One must also stress the fact that before being put into practice by the Nazi regime, this way of thinking has been elaborated by academics, taught in German universities all over the country, and passed on to a whole generation of educated Germans who were active under the Third Reich.