“The Virchow study was not methodologically flawed, Majesty.” Professor von Gruber explained, “The problem lay with its underlying premise.”
Wilhelm cocked his head. This was an interesting point. “Go on.” He encouraged.
“Virchow came to the conclusion that as German race did not exist based on his research. In this, of course, he was correct, but the question was phrased poorly. Race is a biological concept, not a political or cultural one. The German people – the community of those who speak German and live in a German culture - is not a race, but it has a distinct racial identity. It primarily consists of these:”
He unrolled a poster showing a set of images showing heads in profile and pointed to the top row.
“the Nordic, Falic and Dinaric races. These are the dominant subgroups of the Aryan races in northern Europe. The Falic race is typical of Central and Western Europe, wherever we find indigenous populations. A good exemplar of the type is Marshal von der Goltz – brachycephalic, fair, dark-haired and strong. The Dinaric race is Alpine, dominant from the central mountain chains well into the Balkans and Eastern Europe, where it mingles with the Slavic race proper. Finally, the Nordic race dominates in Scandinavia, northern Britain, the Baltic and North Sea littoral. A good type of this would be – with permission – Your Majesty yourself. All of these races are well defined and still exist in distinct populations. It is obviously impossible to construct a unitary racial identity in this situation.”
“Obviously.” The emperor nodded. “But what does that mean for citizenship law?”
“Very little, Your Majesty.” Doctor Schallmayer interjected. Gruber shot him a vicious look; expert to the legendary Sanssouci suppers, and still in uniform, a decorated veteran of the medical corps, it was impossible to voice his contempt more openly. Still, Gruber, in the full glory of his professorship, was not going to take this from a mere doctor in private practice, no matter what books he’d written.
“Certainly, it is important to guard against the intermingling of alien blood into the German people.” Gruber stated with finality. “All Aryan races are excellent stock, but the same is not true of everyone. Savage breeds true.”
Schallmayer gently shook his head. “Professor Gruber, with all due respect,” he interrupted, “but Mendel’s laws show that if such superior racial characteristics exist, they are dominant in character. Otherwise, they would have ceased to be expressed long ago.”
Gruber snorted. “If that is the case, then how do you explain the perpetual animalistic state of the African races? Surely, they have had time enough to intermingle with superior stock?”
“Herr Professor, the bloodletting of the centuries of enslavement alone militates against this.” Schallmayer countered. “But this is not the time to bore His Majesty with historical minutiae. The point is, any such concern is overblown. It is the hygiene of the race, not of races, that needs the attention of the state. Especially after Germany has lost so many valuable specimens of its prime manhood.”
Wilhelm wagged his head. “You mean, the improvement of the race – internally?” he asked.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Schallmayer confirmed. “We know that there is broad variation in every race. Even among the Aryans, we find many congenital imbeciles and criminals, and there are negro geniuses.”
“Negro geniuses?” Gruber echoed. “Spoken like a true Socialist. What are those, men who can count higher than ten?”
Wilhelm’s disapproving glare silenced him. “Professor, you, too, must have read the reports from the front in Africa. Ludendorff was full of praise for the Askari.”
“Your Majesty,” Gruber protested, “nobody doubts that savages can make brave soldiers if they have good leaders, but their contribution to human civilisation is nil.”
“A lot like Mecklenburgers, then?” Walther Krupp zu Rathenau quipped.
“History provides examples to the contrary.” Schallmayer added “Shaka Zulu, Hannibal Barca, and dare I suggest, the Herero princes.”
The emperor nodded pensively. Friedrich Maherero had not exactly been Lichtenfelde’s most brilliant graduate, but considering most men who went there came from the finest cadet schools rather than some missionary Klippschule… And then, there were the Americans. Booker T Washington had struck him as the kind of first-rate mind who could cross swords with Max Weber. “I suppose we must allow for this. I have known negroes of remarkable personal quality. But what is it that you two do agree on, if it is not keeping out alien blood?”
Gruber nodded. “I freely admit, I do not share the sanguine view of Überfremdung my colleague here espouses,” he allowed, “but his work on racial hygiene is thoughtful and sound.”
“Any race can be elevated or destroyed, not from without, but from within itself.” Schallmayer explained. “Many ancient cultures understood this instinctively. The Spartans and the ancient Germans, like the Zulus under Cetwayo, exposed malformed infants to die. Among the Romans, it was unthinkable that a man of no martial virtue be granted a bride. These instincts are lost to us.”
“Do you deplore this?” Rathenau asked, more sharply than he had intended.
“At a personal level, no.“ Schallmayer replied. “Prehistory is often needlessly cruel. But at a societal level, it is necessary to consider the effect of abandoning these customs – and how to replace them with humane, scientific principles. Consider the ancient ban on mixed marriages: We can understand how this would come about, but racially, it is nonsensical. We can show that the great majority of German Jews are Falic, Dinaric and Mediterranean, of Aryan race. It was a matter of prejudice and vague feeling.”
Gruber looked pained, but bit back his retort, conscious of Rathenau’s presence. Damned, Schallmayer knew exactly what to say!
“But in the long term view, just as we can scientifically understand that the handful of Slavic, Turkic and Semitic specimens among us do not pose a racial threat to us – indeed, may improve the stock, given they are often among their people’s best – we can statistically show that the growing population of imbeciles and weaklings does.”
“Modern society is richer than our forebears’” Gruber explained. “People who, in times past, had at best the existence of a village idiot or a beggar to look forward to can now hope to found families, to raise children who inherit their parents’ poor qualities and spread them among the populace.”
“The impact of war exacerbates this.” Schallmayer interposed. “Haeckel got this wrong.- Statistically, the death toll falls heaviest on the strong, the brave and intelligent. In times past, when strong men could claim many wives, it might not have mattered so much, indeed, produced a positive selection mechanism. But today, it impoverishes a nation’s bloodlines as much as its treasury. We must counteract this loss for the sake of Germany’s future.”
“The emperor nodded. The graphs made sense: A steadily rising line of yellow – exponentially upwards, overtaking the red of healthy children until the entire country would be dedicated solely to keeping its idiots alive. You could not argue with maths. “So, there is a humane solution to this?”
“Indeed, Your Majesty.” Schallmayer shone with the confidence of a medical man. “It is possible today to allow an individual to live a full life – as full as it is possible under these conditions, at any rate – while ensuring through surgical sterilisation that they will not procreate.”
Wilhelm winced. “You can’t mean to castrate every idiot? I’d lose half the Reichstag!”
Laughter dutifully rippled around the table.
“Not castration, Majesty.” Gruber pointed out. “Surgical sterilisation is a minor procedure that rarely entails grave consequences. It does not impede performance, only its consequences. And there may soon be chemical methods that obviate even an operation. The first step would be to make it available, on a voluntary basis, to those for whom, it is medically indicated. As things stand, it is banned as a contraceptive method.”
“In America,” Schallmayer added, “it has already been made mandatory in several states, and the results are quite satisfactory. Welfare authorities and the police obtain court orders for the sterilisation of criminals, alcoholics and the inferior. It is cheaper than putting them in prison – certainly cheaper than putting generations of their offspring behind bars.”
Rathenau nodded pensively. It sounded like a workable system. Something to be handled, perhaps, at the level of the Landgericht, given the gravity of these cases. “I do not think Zentrum will be on board with that.” he cautioned.
“The conservatives will!” Wilhelm said. “At least, enough of them.”
