1933 – EARLY HESITATIONS

Following Hitler's accession to power on January 30, 1933, the fight against racism became a primary concern for a small but growing number of scientists. The 1920s saw scientists moderating their earlier racial enthusiasm and moving in an egalitarian direction, becoming skeptical of racial typologies and beginning to contest the capability of contemporary scientific knowledge to resolve the heredity versus environment debate. The urgency of dealing with racist doctrines became more compelling with the rise of Nazism, and anthropologists found themselves at the center of public demand to rebuke “Aryan science.” Most scientists, excluding right-wing radicals, dismissed Nazi scientific racism as mere nonsense right from 1933, as is evident from their correspondence. Their public commitment, however, differed according to their social and intellectual affinities, and prior to the late 1930s only a minority explicitly opposed racism. Consequently, the period can be subdivided into three phases.

The first, which occurred during 1933-34, included several initiatives motivated by the plight of refugees and the question of anti-Nazism, but in general the issue of race was faced only indirectly. The second phase amounted to a stalemate up to 1938; while efforts to counter racism through institutionalized scientific channels were frustrated, anti-racist publications by individuals became popular. It was during the third period, however, from 1938 on, that the scientific community declared itself against racism.