The racial hierarchy in Germany is mainly brought up by the Nazis. They set certain laws regarding the classification of races into different groups. The Nazis were the officials of the Nazi party or the National Socialist German Workers Party. This was a Germany Political party of Germany prevalent between the years 1920 and 1945. The Nazis established a strict hierarchy of the human race in Germany with the Aryan race at the top. The Aryan race is also known as the Master race, followed by various other races. Let’s go into more details with following levels:
- Aryan Race
- Nordic race
- Mediterranean race
- Alpine race
- Untermensch
Aryan Race
The Aryan race is considered as a subgroup of the Caucasian race, which consisted of the people of Indo-European origins. The other subgroups of the Caucasian race are Nordic race, Mediterranean race and the Alpine race. The people of this race were quite popular.
Nordic race
The people of the Nordic race were characterized by brown hairs, light colored eyes, tall stature and fair skin. Theywere considered to be innovators, a property which no other race exhibited. The Nordic race occupied the aristocracy and they were involved in various technological inventions. They are associated with many inventions and innovations.
Mediterranean race
It is believed that the people of Mediterranean race were more superior to the Nordic race in terms of artistic ability. The people of the Mediterranean race were characterized by dark hair, dark eyes and moderate to short stature. They were below the Nordic race and above the Alpine race in the racial hierarchy of Germany. These people were responsible for the evolution of the most important ancient western civilizations. They were further grouped into Mediterranean proper, West Mediterranean, Altanto Mediterranean and East Mediterranean.
Alpine race
The people of the Alpine race were characterized by short height, broad feet, short fingers and short calves etc. They have occupied most of the regions of Central, Southern and Eastern Europe.
Untermensch
These were the lowest classes of the racial hierarchy in Germany, as outlined by the Nazi party. These included Jews, Gypsies and the Slavic peoples. The Jews were also called as Jewish people. Studies reveal that most of the Jews have a common genetic heritage, which originates from the Middle East. The Jews were further classified mainly into three major groups called as the Ashkenazim or Germanics, the Sephardim and the Mizrahim. The language spoken by the Jewish people is Hebrew.
The Gypsies were related to the Romani people. The language spoken by them is the Romani language.
All the above classifications and ideologies were articulated by Adolf Hilter, who was the then leader of the Nazi party.According to the Nazi ideology, each and every race carried with them certain traits, which could be transferred from one generation to the next. The leader took the views and ideas of various German social Darwinists of that time,in order to outline the racial hierarchy of Germany. apart from these major races, many small groups & races o people also existed in different parts of the country.
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