Master race
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Master Race was a idea used by Adolf Hitler and others. Hitler thought that people belong to different races.
This idea came from a racial theory which was developed in the 19th century mostly. The theory is frowned upon by most modern scientists. It claims there is a hierarchy of races. Some races are better than others.At the bottom of the hierarchy were black-skinned people from Africa, and the Aborigines from Australia. Pale-skinned people with blonde hair and blue eyes (from the north of Europe) were at the top of the hierarchy, it was claimed. Arthur de Gobineau believed that cultures degenerate (they become worse) when races mix. Arthur Schopenhauer also supported this idea. He said that the White race had become what it was though refinement, and the harsh conditions in the North. Other supporters of the theory were Guido von List, Lanz von Liebefels and Houston Steward Chamberlain.
Hitler thought people different from this were their slaves or enemies. These people should be forced to work or leave Europe, he said.
Hitler and his followers, the Nazi party, took power in Germany in 1933. They started to divide Germans into races. They made propaganda that blamed Jews for many things. The Nazis also made laws that were based on their ideas of race. German Jews were forbidden to own property and were attacked and killed. When Germany invaded other countries in Europe they also started putting people into concentration camps.
The Nazis put anybody they thought was different there.
- They put Jews in there. Six, or maybe eight, million people.
- They also put people from other faiths there.
- People they said were not Aryans.
- People who disagreed with the Nazis.
- Some sick people were sent there.
During the Second World War about eleven million people were killed in these camps. This was called the holocaust.
[edit] See also
- The book by Hitler, Mein Kampf
- Racism
- Fascism
