Why were the Nazis obsessed with blue eyes and blonde hair?

[Winter_Rose]

Just been watching the new Dad's Army movie and there's a German spy on the loose. Then something popped into my head from one of my PSHE classes when I was in sixth form, we were having a discussion and someone mentioned that the nazis had this thing for blonde hair blue eyes.

What made them choose this hair colour and not any other?
What if someone had blonde hair, but their eyes were a different colour?

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

The Nazis were obsessed with the idea of the Aryan master race, a hypothetical primitive grouping of peoples from which the Indo-European languages descended. They thought of history as the story of competing races rising to prominence and then falling as interbreeding with the conquered peoples diluted their good genes.

The Aryans were seen as the major primitive Germanic race which the Germans should try to achieve again, through selective breeding and removing undesirable elements from the gene pool like Jewishness or disabilities.

Blonde hair and blue eyes, because of their historic association with the Nordic peoples, were seen as a surefire proof of Germanic descent and therefore Aryan descent and racial purity.

If someone had other eye and hair colour, they could still be evaluated for racially useful genes or traits, but they saw blonde blue-eyed people as showing particular germanic purity.

 

[CodyFaith]

I think it also had a religious/spiritual aspect to it, something to do with light from the sun. I could be wrong, just sounds familiar.

 

[Lik3]

Interesting, weren't the REAL Aryans anything but Germanic/Nordic but Persian/Semitic?

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

Interesting, weren't the REAL Aryans anything but Germanic/Nordic but Persian/Semitic?

The Persians are not Semitic. The Persians are an Indo-European people, so in essence related to the North Indians, Hittites, Slavs, Germanic, Greek, Romance and Celtic peoples.

The Indo-Aryans were a group of Indo-European descent that settled the Iranian plateau and then invaded North India in about 1200 BC. Their descendants today are the Iranians (Persians) and the North Indians.
The Nazis called the hypothetical urheimat population of all Indo-European peoples the Aryans. So in the eyes of Nazism, all Indo-Europeans are the descendants of the Aryans with the name itself derived from the Persian grouping, but its purest expression being the North Germanic peoples. The Indo-Aryans would thus be a subgroup of the Aryan master race, akin to the Nordic or Romance etc. groups in their parlance. They actually sent expeditions to study Persian and Central Asian sites to support their pet theory of a historical Aryan Master Race that ruled much of Asia.

 

[Lik3]

Who exactly were the Hittites? The Bible doesn't seem to say much about them. Were there a people known as the Hyksos? It is quite easy to confuse the Hittites with the Hyksos.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

Who exactly were the Hittites? The Bible doesn't seem to say much about them. Were there a people known as the Hyksos? It is quite easy to confuse the Hittites with the Hyksos.

The Hittites were an Indo-European people whose empire was centred on Anatolia (Modern Turkey). They were a major middle eastern power and one of the chief foreign enemies of the Egyptians.
From about 1600 BC to about 1200 BC, they ruled one of the major ancient empires of their time and fought wars with ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Mittani and Assyria.
They were the opponents during Ramesses II's most famous battle at Kadesh.
We have found a lot of their royal archives at Hatussa, their Capitol, so they are an important source on near eastern history and spoke the oldest Indo-European languages on record.
Their empire collapsed during the Bronze Age collapse, but Neo-Hittite states continued to exist in Syria for about 400 years thereafter.
Famously they are mentioned in the Bible, but secular history completely forgot they existed until they were rediscovered in Egyptian texts in the 19th century and in their Anatolian heartland.

The Hyksos were a Semitic group of invaders that overran/settled the delta of Egypt at the end of the middle Kingdom thus initiating the Second Intermediate period. They were driven out by the 17th/18th dynasty and then the New Kingdom period in Egypt began.

The Hyksos and Hittites are thus contemporaries and both enemies of Egypt, but otherwise quite different.

 

[Lik3]

Thank you.

 

[Radrook]

Actually, the Nazis were accepting Northern Nordic-looking Italians for procreation of the supposed master race. Strange since when they encountered a Jew with those characteristics it didn't seem to matter. At least that's the impression I get. Am I correct?

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

Actually, the Nazis were accepting Northern Nordic-looking Italians for procreation of the supposed master race. Strange since when they encountered a Jew with those characteristics it didn't seem to matter. At least that's the impression I get. Am I correct?

Italians are still Indo-European, so still an offshoot of the Aryan Master Race in their mind, just not the purest form. To the Nazis, the Roman Empire showed the superior Aryan genes which then became diluted as conquered peoples moved into Italy.

Semitic and Slavic peoples were thought to be Untermenschen, subhuman degenerates. The idea was that any contamination of these groups had to be removed, regardless if they otherwise carried 'good gene' phenotypes. Even a little Jewish blood was seen as sufficient to ultimately bring down the purity they sought as they thought Jews had an uncontrollable selfishness and avarice and did not want their recreated race to be infected with those characteristics.

That being said, the Lebensborn program where the SS tried to sire racially useful children from extra-marital relations often employed Slavic women, so it was inconsistently applied. Weirdly, although Slavs are Indo-European, they were seen as the most degenerate form and thus had little useful genetic material.

 

[The Hammer of Witches]

The Persians are not Semitic. The Persians are an Indo-European people, so in essence related to the North Indians, Hittites, Slavs, Germanic, Greek, Romance and Celtic peoples.

The Indo-Aryans were a group of Indo-European descent that settled the Iranian plateau and then invaded North India in about 1200 BC. Their descendants today are the Iranians (Persians) and the North Indians.
The Nazis called the hypothetical urheimat population of all Indo-European peoples the Aryans. So in the eyes of Nazism, all Indo-Europeans are the descendants of the Aryans with the name itself derived from the Persian grouping, but its purest expression being the North Germanic peoples. The Indo-Aryans would thus be a subgroup of the Aryan master race, akin to the Nordic or Romance etc. groups in their parlance. They actually sent expeditions to study Persian and Central Asian sites to support their pet theory of a historical Aryan Master Race that ruled much of Asia.

You forgot to mention that they were forerunners of the Iron Age, smelting iron before any other nation. This is arguably their biggest accomplishment.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

You forgot to mention that they were forerunners of the Iron Age, smelting iron before any other nation. This is arguably their biggest accomplishment.

Of whom are you speaking? The oldest smelted Iron implement not made from meteoric Iron that I am aware of, is a dagger found in a Hittite tomb in Anatolia (roughly 2500 BC) and some evidence of New Kingdom Iron working in Egypt, although Iron tools remained a rarity throughout the Bronze Age, only becoming standard after the collapse of 1200s BC and the ensueing dark age.
It is likely that Iron smelting probably started in Anatolia amongst the Hatti/Hittites, but even this is debated.

While the Indo-Aryans are traditionally said to have introduced iron working to India, there is some evidence that rudimentary smelting was already taking place there before their arrival.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Just been watching the new Dad's Army movie and there's a German spy on the loose. Then something popped into my head from one of my PSHE classes when I was in sixth form, we were having a discussion and someone mentioned that the nazis had this thing for blonde hair blue eyes.

What made them choose this hair colour and not any other?
What if someone had blonde hair, but their eyes were a different colour?

Apparently, according to a retired airforce pilot, it's the way the aliens look.

 

[Radrook]

Italians are still Indo-European, so still an offshoot of the Aryan Master Race in their mind, just not the purest form. To the Nazis, the Roman Empire showed the superior Aryan genes which then became diluted as conquered peoples moved into Italy.

Semitic and Slavic peoples were thought to be Untermenschen, subhuman degenerates. The idea was that any contamination of these groups had to be removed, regardless if they otherwise carried 'good gene' phenotypes. Even a little Jewish blood was seen as sufficient to ultimately bring down the purity they sought as they thought Jews had an uncontrollable selfishness and avarice and did not want their recreated race to be infected with those characteristics.

That being said, the Lebensborn program where the SS tried to sire racially useful children from extra-marital relations often employed Slavic women, so it was inconsistently applied. Weirdly, although Slavs are Indo-European, they were seen as the most degenerate form and thus had little useful genetic material.

Such racial policies were also watered down when militarily and politically expedient. Ironically-the Japanese were touted as being somewhat of a master race as well by the Nazis. Also, and little known to most people,-there were Jewish units who were allowed to be part of the German army. The members were Jewishness was downplayed in such cases to allow membership.

Curious! Since Hitler was a student of History, and an admirer of the efficiency of the Roman Empire's military prowess, one would expect him to have learned a very valuable lesson which he obviously completely missed.

The Romans became great only via granting Roman citizenship benefits to their Latin tribe allies and striving to make allies abroad as well. Thus when Hannibal invaded Italy with hopes of gaining support from the Latin tribes of the south, he found most remaining loyal to Rome.

In stark contrast, Hitler seemed hell-bent on making enemies of potential allies. For example, people of the Ukraine and other Russian areas at first received the German soldiers as liberators from Stalin's regime but were soon being abused and turned into staunch enemies.

Such a policy placed the German armies in the difficult situation of operating amidst hostile populations that would have otherwise offered support. Russian prisoners which hated Stalin and were eager to Join the fight against him were transformed into enemies via cruel treatment which served only to strengthen Russian soldier's resolve to never surrender but die fighting him instead.

Weird!

 

[Radrook]

Just been watching the new Dad's Army movie and there's a German spy on the loose. Then something popped into my head from one of my PSHE classes when I was in sixth form, we were having a discussion and someone mentioned that the nazis had this thing for blonde hair blue eyes.

What made them choose this hair colour and not any other?
What if someone had blonde hair, but their eyes were a different colour?

Well, then that wasn't the ideal from their standpoint.
How about blue eyes and black hair as in John Travolta and Frank Sinatra?
One thing to keep in mind is that they recognized three branches of the white race.
The Nordic, Alpine and Mediterranean. Hitler was obviously not of the Nordic Branch which he so much admired.

They believed that at one time a blond blue-eyed race had predominated in Europe and that this one was the ideal and should be restored. They claimed that this race was responsible for the rise of Rome, the glories of Greece and that the downfall of such great civilizations were brought down via inter-racial mixing. So their story went and still goes for white supremacists.

 

[Radrook]

Italians are still Indo-European, so still an offshoot of the Aryan Master Race in their mind, just not the purest form. To the Nazis, the Roman Empire showed the superior Aryan genes which then became diluted as conquered peoples moved into Italy.

Semitic and Slavic peoples were thought to be Untermenschen, subhuman degenerates. The idea was that any contamination of these groups had to be removed, regardless if they otherwise carried 'good gene' phenotypes. Even a little Jewish blood was seen as sufficient to ultimately bring down the purity they sought as they thought Jews had an uncontrollable selfishness and avarice and did not want their recreated race to be infected with those characteristics.

That being said, the Lebensborn program where the SS tried to sire racially useful children from extra-marital relations often employed Slavic women, so it was inconsistently applied. Weirdly, although Slavs are Indo-European, they were seen as the most degenerate form and thus had little useful genetic material.

They were also inconsistent in their use of troops composed of those of partial Jewish descent. there are also rampant rumors stating that Hitler himself was of Jewish descent.

Hitler of Afro Jewish Descent?
http://www.history.com/news/study-suggests-adolf-hitler-had-jewish-and-african-ancestors

Hitler's Jewish Troops
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/03/29/hitlers-jewish-soldiers-part-i/