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Was Nazi Germany a police state to its self declared "true" citizens, i.e. ethnically pure Germans? (self.askhistorians)

submitted 3 months ago by Don_Dickle to c/askhistorians

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[–] Don_Dickle 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Dumb question but growing up I always heard Hitler wanted blonde hair and blue eyes even when he had neither. How was it they decide who was pure or unpure ?

[–] Goodie 4 points 3 months ago

It's a simple question, but with a complex answer that I'm not sure I have the tools and knowledge to answer.

But I'll try.

The answer has multiple layers, on the surface, yes, the "Aryan ideal" was what they strove for, and the picture they put forward was blonde hair and blue eyes. On the surface, it was purely cosmetic, you had those features you were probably the Aryan ideal.

But that wouldn't mean they would take an American prisoner who met those ideals and ship him off to the breeding center to help pump out perfect babies. Because they were inpure.

In another layer, in reality even, the "Aryan ideal" was used like a tool. You were pure if you stayed in line and supported the cause, and the threat of being found not pure was used to keep people in line. The threat of the secret police, was the threat of them turning up to whisk you, or your loved ones, away, at even the merest hint of dissidence.

By the end of the war, everyone knew someone who knew someone who had at least been questioned, if not disapeared.