Eugenics on the Periphery: Or Why a ‘Belarusian Eugenic Project’ Did Not Come True (1918–44)

Abstract

The interwar period was characterized by the active development of national eugenics projects in Europe. A number of factors contributed to the interest in eugenics and the desire to implement them: the making of new states and conso lidation of nations in East Central Europe, the need to overcome the legacy of the Great War and deal with social problems (for example, venereal diseases and prostitution), and the development of scientifi c and international academic contacts. Belarusian debates on eugenics took place mostly on the periphery of the more developed discourses -those in Russia, Poland, and, later on, in Germany. The Russian scholars in the larger university centres contributed to the development of the Soviet eugenics project, which gained the support of the Soviet authorities. In the fi rst decade of their rule, the Bolsheviks were not against debates on eugenics about how to improve the 'nature of man'. The Soviet eugenics project, which focused on studying problems of heredity, genetics, and genealogy, was stopped when the authorities placed rigid ideological controls over science. In Soviet Belarus, no academic circle appeared that engaged in the debates on eugenics. The development of the eugenics movement in Poland was closely linked to the formation of the newly established Polish state. After the Great War, the Polish eugenics movement made attempts to integrate itself into the public life of the country. Polish medical doctors contributed to the development of the eugenics movement. During the Second World War, a group of Belarusian nationalists tried to formulate a basis for a Belarusian racial eugenics project, following the main ideas of Nazi 'racial hygiene'.

The ‘racial contract’, ‘whiteness contract’, and Central Europe

“…It was evident, for example, in the development of the interwar Belarusian state that was modelled on the eugenics activities already established in Germany and Soviet Russia. 38 Following the establishment of the Czechoslovak state in 1918, the Czech Eugenics Society quickly requested the creation of a national institute of eugenic research and a museum of comparative genetics, among other eugenic demands. 39 Such institutes and study would help to define the distinctiveness of the new state.…”

Colonialism, eugenics and ‘race’ in Central and Eastern Europe

“…Indeed, peripherality brings us closer to the emergency of eugenics in CEE, before and during the First World War (Zamoiski, 2016). The so-called 'peripheral' nations in CEE perceived eugenics as a persuasive strategy meant to protect the dominant ethnic nations from a disappointing and 'unjust' past.…”

“Face to the Countryside!”: A Thorny Path for Soviet Public Healthcare in an Interwar Belarusian Province

“…Moreover, the authorities were fully aware of the causes of the epidemic diseases in these rural areas. 34 In June 1924, the People's Commissariat of Health started to act more decisively in sending medical groups out to rural areas where many of the epidemics had originated. A special brigade to combat malaria, for example was dispatched to the Mozyr district, an area dominated by mosquito-infested swamplands.…”