East Baltic race

The East Baltic race is one of the subcategories of the Europid (Caucasian) race into which it was divided by biological anthropologists and scientific racists in the early 20th century.^[1] Such racial typologies have been rejected by modern anthropology for several reasons, especially since the rise of molecular anthropology.

The term East Baltic race was coined by the anthropologist Rolf Nordenstreng, but was popularised by the race theorist Hans F. K. Günther. This race were living in Finland, Estonia and north-western Russia. It was characterized as "short-headed, broad-faced, with heavy, massive under-jaw, chin not prominent, flat, rather broad, short nose with low bridge; stiff, light (ash-blond) hair; light (grey or whitish blue) eyes, standing out; light skin with a greyish undertone."

The American Eugenics Society described East Baltic people as being Mongolized.^[2]

The Nazi philologist Josef Nadler declared the East Baltic race to be the main source of German Romanticism.^[3][4] Also in the Third Reich the philologist Julius Petersen wrote that Ludwig Tieck's Romanticism might have been promoted by his possible Slavic heritage, referring to the American biographer Edwin H. Zeydel's theory, that Tieck's grandmother was Russian.^[5]

See also

• Scientific racism

References

1. Anne Maxwell Picture Imperfect: Photography and Eugenics, 1870–1940 Brighton, Publication Date: April 1, 2010, ISBN 1845194152
2. American Eugenics Society, Eugenics Research Association. Eugenical news, Volumes 12-14. Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.). Eugenics Record Office, Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Eugenics Record Office, Carnegie Institution of Washington. Dept. of Genetics. Eugenics Record Office, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. Pp. 118.
3. Josef Nadler, Rassenkunde, Volkskunde, Stammeskunde. Dichtung und Volkstum 35 (1934)
4. Josef Nadler, Die Berliner Romantik 1810-1814. Berlin, 1921
5. Julius Petersen, Die Wissenschaft von der Dichtung, 2nd posthumous and supplemented edition, Berlin, 1944. p. 290