Roll-Hansen N
Norges allmennvitenskapelige forskningsråd, Utredningsinstitutt, Oslo, Norway.
Genome. 1989;31(2):890-5. doi: 10.1139/g89-157.
The paper argues that historical analysis and explanation of eugenics in Germany can benefit much from systematic comparison to Scandinavia. Common cultural background and quite similar development up to 1933 provides a background for isolating salient causes in Nazi population policies. This comparison will also help a more precise understanding of the mutual dependence between science and politics in the case of eugenics. The author holds that many of the geneticists who participated in the eugenics debates of the 1930's and 1940's had a clearer grasp of the distinction between science and politics than most present day historiographers of eugenics.
该论文认为，对德国优生学进行历史分析和解释，通过与斯堪的纳维亚地区进行系统比较会大有裨益。共同的文化背景以及直至1933年颇为相似的发展历程，为找出纳粹人口政策中的显著成因提供了背景。这种比较也将有助于更精确地理解优生学案例中科学与政治之间的相互依存关系。作者认为，许多参与20世纪30年代和40年代优生学辩论的遗传学家，比当今大多数优生学史学家更清楚地把握了科学与政治之间的区别。
