Heredity and Racial Science – Anti-Semitic Textbook – Stuttgart, 1939

Heredity and Racial Science – Anti-Semitic Textbook – Stuttgart, 1939
Erblehre, Abstammungs- und Rassenkunde in Bildlicher Darstellung [Heredity, Genealogy and Racial Science, Pictorial Representation], portfolio with plates of text, illustrations and sketches for teaching heredity and race theory. Text by Alfred Vogel; illustrations by Eberhard Brauchle. Stuttgart: Verlag für National Literatur Gebr. Rath, 1939. German. Second edition.
Portfolio with 80 plates combining text, illustrations and diagrams (many of them in color) intended for the instruction of heredity and racial science in schools in Nazi Germany. The portfolio was created by Alfred Vogel, an elementary school principal in Baden, to accompany another textbook he had written on the subject (Erblehre und Rassenkunde für die Grund- und Hauptschule, 1937). The plates were illustrated by Eberhard Brauchle.
The plates form two groups, the first of which deals with the laws of Mendelian Inheritance, laws proposed by biologist Gregor Mendel (1822-1884). These plates contain illustrations and diagrams presenting various experiments and studies in plants. The second group of plates deals with heredity and racial science. By means of illustrations, diagrams, photographs and more, the plates present the anti-Semitic racial theory about the superiority of the Aryan race and the inferiority of other races.
The portfolio, which reflects the doctrine of the Nazi party and the Nuremberg race laws, puts a special emphasis on the nature and character of the Jew: inferior genetics, defilement of the Aryan race, a degenerate culture, corrupted morals, love of money, the plot to take over the world, and the like. On the bottom of some of the plates appear quotations and sentences reflecting the racial and anti-Semitic principles of the Nazi party.
[1], 79 plates (numbered 1-48, 48a, 49-78), 39 cm. Portfolio: approx. 40X30.5 cm. Good overall condition. Stains. Minor creases in the corners of the plates. Stains, tears and blemishes to portfolio.