AGB’s Shameful Legacy: Hitler
Alexander Graham Bell’s eugenic work had contributed to 11 millions killed by Nazis.
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Alexander Graham Bell possessed a pathological hatred for Deaf people who used sign language, even though his mother and wife were oral deaf. His morbid obsession on culturally Deaf people, led him to spend time at Martha Vineyard where he determined after a careful examination that deafness was hereditary. As a proponent of the a new American eugenic movement, he wrote a proposal of involuntary sterilization of deaf people and marriage prohibition between deaf people, “Memoir upon the formation of a deaf variety of the human Race”, but it wasn’t passed by Congress.
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What remains a dark secret is that AGB, along with several other prominent wealthy people, continued to fund the emerging American Eugenics, still at its infancy. It was spurred by Darwin’s works, On the Origin of Species, and intolerance toward the increasing immigration of “unacceptable” people. Eugenics caught the attention of state governments in 1907, spawning a new popular thinking. By 1936, 35 states enacted involuntary sterilization laws aimed at defectives and undesirables, not just the handicapped, but also troubled youth, criminals and poor people.Â
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The American eugenics movement inspired Adolf Hitler who admired the American eugenicists, even sending them fan mails. He studied its program and adopted their practice of  involuntary sterilizations among the defective people. His work spawned more competition by American eugenicists who sought to catch up. However under the dictation of Hitler, the program was expanded to incorporate undesirable social, religious, and ethnic groups: Homosexuals, Gypsies, and Jews, etc. Eventually the movement secretly embraced forced segregation into concentration camps and mass massacres of these people.
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Yes, you read me correctly. The mass massacre of 11 million people during Nazism were inspired by the early eugenic movement started here by AGB along with several other wealthy donors.
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Upon disclosure of Nazi’s enthusiastic eradication of undesirables at the end of WWII, the American eugenics movement cooled considerably, distancing itself from Hitler’s eugenic philosophy. The total number of sterilization performed in this country by this program was 60,000, with the last one at Virginia in late 1970’s.
However, AGB’s eugenical legacy to erase any sign of deafness persists to this day with oralism, leaving behind countless thousands of children irreparably harmed due to the deprivation of communication and language. It also explains the reason for AGB Association’s pathological aversion of deaf people utilizing sign language.
For more information on the treatment of Deaf people during the Nazi regime, click on this link:The Nazi Persecution of Deaf People
Ironically, his wife bore at least one child from their union, even though she was deaf. By the way, AGB’s statement about deafness being hereditary was erroneous. Approximately 95% of the deaf children were born to hearing parents.
PS. Here is a partial list of resources I’ve used to collect the data
http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2005/07/22/darwins-cousin/
http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/shofar/v025/25.1lerner02.html
http://idea3.rit.edu/paddhd/deafww2/main/VIDEOS/NTID/IngeloreNTIDSummary.htm
http://www.waragainsttheweak.com/offSiteArchive/usaToday/index.html
http://www.amazon.fr/War-Against-Weak-Eugenics-Americas/dp/1568583214
USATODAY.com – Book explores eugenics’ origins
E mail contact: Mishkazena@aol.com
Copyright Mishkazena (TM) 2007
Alexander Graham Bell’s eugenic work had contributed to 11 millions killed by Nazis.
Â
Alexander Graham Bell possessed a pathological hatred for Deaf people who used sign language, even though his mother and wife were oral deaf. His morbid obsession on culturally Deaf people, led him to spend time at Martha Vineyard where he determined after a careful examination that deafness was hereditary. As a proponent of the a new American eugenic movement, he wrote a proposal of involuntary sterilization of deaf people and marriage prohibition between deaf people, “Memoir upon the formation of a deaf variety of the human Race”, but it wasn’t passed by Congress.
Â
What remains a dark secret is that AGB, along with several other prominent wealthy people, continued to fund the emerging American Eugenics, still at its infancy. It was spurred by Darwin’s works, On the Origin of Species, and intolerance toward the increasing immigration of “unacceptable” people. Eugenics caught the attention of state governments in 1907, spawning a new popular thinking. By 1936, 35 states enacted involuntary sterilization laws aimed at defectives and undesirables, not just the handicapped, but also troubled youth, criminals and poor people.Â
Â
The American eugenics movement inspired Adolf Hitler who admired the American eugenicists, even sending them fan mails. He studied its program and adopted their practice of  involuntary sterilizations among the defective people. His work spawned more competition by American eugenicists who sought to catch up. However under the dictation of Hitler, the program was expanded to incorporate undesirable social, religious, and ethnic groups: Homosexuals, Gypsies, and Jews, etc. Eventually the movement secretly embraced forced segregation into concentration camps and mass massacres of these people.
Â
Yes, you read me correctly. The mass massacre of 11 million people during Nazism were inspired by the early eugenic movement started here by AGB along with several other wealthy donors.
Â
Upon disclosure of Nazi’s enthusiastic eradication of undesirables at the end of WWII, the American eugenics movement cooled considerably, distancing itself from Hitler’s eugenic philosophy. The total number of sterilization performed in this country by this program was 60,000, with the last one at Virginia in late 1970’s.
However, AGB’s eugenical legacy to erase any sign of deafness persists to this day with oralism, leaving behind countless thousands of children irreparably harmed due to the deprivation of communication and language. It also explains the reason for AGB Association’s pathological aversion of deaf people utilizing sign language.
For more information on the treatment of Deaf people during the Nazi regime, click on this link:The Nazi Persecution of Deaf People
Ironically, his wife bore at least one child from their union, even though she was deaf. By the way, AGB’s statement about deafness being hereditary was erroneous. Approximately 95% of the deaf children were born to hearing parents.
PS. Here is a partial list of resources I’ve used to collect the data
http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2005/07/22/darwins-cousin/
http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/shofar/v025/25.1lerner02.html
http://idea3.rit.edu/paddhd/deafww2/main/VIDEOS/NTID/IngeloreNTIDSummary.htm
http://www.waragainsttheweak.com/offSiteArchive/usaToday/index.html
http://www.amazon.fr/War-Against-Weak-Eugenics-Americas/dp/1568583214
USATODAY.com – Book explores eugenics’ origins
E mail contact: Mishkazena@aol.com
Copyright Mishkazena (TM) 2007
March 30th, 2007 at 9:07 am
I was aware of AGB’s role of American eugenics, but didn’t know the extent until now nor its influence on Hitler’s cleansing program. I am stunned.
March 30th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Thanks for expanding on this. I will forward this to a friend of mine who mentioned that to me when she visited the Holocaust Museum.
Amazing how just one thought and idea can grow to something as large as that. Makes me wonder if AGB ever intended for that to ever happen.
March 30th, 2007 at 9:32 am
Yes, you are absolutely right. In the Deaf Heritage written by Jack Gannon.. deaf people called him evil. They despised him. Now you all understand why did they feel that about AGB? During trials against Nazi leaders, no one was charged for killing disabled people because they got the idea from our American citizens like AGB. Before World War 11, the State Department people invited Nazi doctors to our country to give us ideas about their methods. AGB was a big part of it. Sick because AGB is still the hero in our US history. Sick!!!
March 30th, 2007 at 9:38 am
I was at Berlin Conference (Deaf History International) last August. We had to listen to the deaf people’s horrible stories about their experiences under Nazi Germany. Horrible!!! The Deaf Communities were destroyed. Their schools and clubs were closed. They killed the deaf families before they killed deaf children of hearing parents. They were starving to death. They were testing in gas chambers before they used them for public. Thanks to AGB!!! He is not hero…
March 30th, 2007 at 9:58 am
“Pathological hatred” of deaf people and “morbid obsession” are strong words that might not accurately represent AGB’s scientific interest, given that he apparently loved his mother and wife who were deaf. However, his misguided interest in eugenics did seem to have spread to the Nazis who came out with the “Final Solution”. People tragically do not know what they have started.
What I found appalling in the links was the statement that Deaf Jewish people were turned in by German Deaf for extermination. Clubs and schools for the deaf were made into collaborators in the early days of Nazism, so members and students were reported to the Nazis.
That is shocking and makes us want to think how deep our solidarity with each other actually is.
March 30th, 2007 at 10:08 am
Jessica, I honestly don’t think AGB had ever forseen this to go that far.
Albert, I’ve always wanted to attend one of these meetings. They covered the topic of Deaf and Holocaust at Gallaudet, but I wasn’t able to attend it.
Dianez, due to your comments, I did some editing to clarify a little more. His mother and wife were oral, yes, but I wasn’t referring to oral deaf people. You may consider these statements too strong, but from what I’ve read, I get the impression ABG exhibited a pathological aversion to culturally deaf people, meaning those who used sign language, when a scientist was supposed to be free of personal bias. It perfectly explains the AGB Association’s historic strong aversion toward signing deaf people. As oral students, we were taught the deaf people who signed were bad, stupid, and inferior. Any attempt to learn sign language was met swiftly with harsh punishment, often abusive in nature, and any persistence in using sign language led to expulsions from oral schools. Why this strong and harsh attitude toward Deaf people using sign language?
That is true about the collaborative efforts of hearing educators and clergy in assisting Hitler in accomplishing his efforts.
March 30th, 2007 at 10:13 am
Too extreme. If you had asked AGB if he wanted people killed for being deaf, he would have said no. You can’t blame him for what other people did with his work 50 years later.
(I don’t support AGB’s beliefs, but he wasn’t a mass murderer, either. Come on.)
March 30th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Steve, I suggest you read more carefully. Where in the article did mention AGB as a mass murderer?
I reported his early eugenic works paved the way for 60,000 sterilization in USA and Hitler’s cleansing program. This fact still stands. His dream of the sterilization of deaf people were carried out by Hitler with Gentile people overseas.
March 30th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Good job well done! A decade ago, I called AG Bell the Hitler born before the real hitler…..he inspired it all. I knew it long time ago! If he truly loved his mother and wife, he would NOT be in the position of eliminating or trying to hurt us all. He is a traitor to the deaf community!
This is why I declared him PUBLIC ENEMY #1.
March 30th, 2007 at 11:19 am
#7… Steve, No, not mass murder.. AGB may not know that his writing was the big impact to the future people who read his books. They happened to agree with him and took the action against the Deaf people. Did not he start the sterilization, forbid the intermarriages, closed the schools, etc. He failed but his followers did it. They almost won by wiping out the Deaf Communities. Right? The Ford Family wrote anti semetics phamplets over years in 1920s. Nazi people killed Jewish people. The Ford Family apologized for their action, even though they were not involved with killings. they were spreading the hatred against one group. They have stopped. AGB wanted to wipe out the Deaf Communities. Read his books. He went to Gally and told the deaf people NOT to marry each other. Yes, AGB’s writing was a big part of action in Nazi Germany.
MZ, I have to share the stories with you about the conference. It is one of a kind. The stories are still amazing. No one left the room with dried eyes.
March 30th, 2007 at 11:32 am
The AGBell’s language eugenic movement is still very strong and alive in America!
What can we do?
What can I do?
What can you do?
Plenty!!!!!!
Jewish Anti-Defamation already did,
NAACP already did,
It’s our turn now.
John F. Egbert
March 30th, 2007 at 11:58 am
First, let me elaborate on my point:
Everything everyone does or says causes ripples that spread out, sometimes for years or even centuries. If it makes logical sense to blame people for the effects of their ripples, even generations later, then logically everyone should keep still and refuse to do anything, out of fear of what might happen 50 years later as a result of their actions.
If you can blame AGBell for Hitler, then you can blame Jesus for Hitler, too – his words caused the rise of Christianity which led to anti-Semitism which led to the Holocaust, right?
If those Nazis actually were inspired by Bell or the other eugenicists, they weren’t mindless automatons unthinkingly following those ideas; they made a conscious decision, as human beings with free will, to absorb them into their world view. They, and only they, are responsible for their actions, not any theorists who lived before them.
Mishka Zena Says:
“Steve, I suggest you read more carefully. Where in the article did mention AGB as a mass murderer?”
You’re right, you didn’t. But anyone who names Bell or anyone else as an inspiration for Hitler is very strongly implying he is responsible for the mass murders Hitler carried out.
“I reported his early eugenic works paved the way for 60,000 sterilization in USA and Hitler’s cleansing program. This fact still stands.”
Now, I challenge that. Can you cite any document in which anyone quoted Bell as an authority for those sterilizations?
Albert W Says:
“Yes, AGB’s writing was a big part of action in Nazi Germany.”
I have to challenge that, too. Can anyone provide any evidence of a Nazi theorist quoting Bell as justification for a program of sterilization and death camps?
March 30th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
That would be very easy for us to demonize and demean someone like AGB.
No questions about AGB being indirectly responsible for the concept of race purity later in decades.
We have to step back and look with unbiased conclusions about people sweeped up in the trends or societal attitudes of their time.
Social Darwinism was a real big thing during AGB’s time which Darwin brought the new concept of evolutionary beings within the animal kindgom and humanity.
Of course, AGB was kinda obsessed with the human imperfection like herditary deafness. He hid all the research from Martha Vineyard which disproves his agruments about herditary deafness largely contribute to deaf offsprings. At least, AGB did not destroy his work. Thank Goodness!
All of you urge to read the history book on Martha Vineyard: Signing Community which the Volta Bureau (AGB Association) was greatly cooperative with the hard of hearing author on the subject of Martha Vineyard.
The Volta Bureau was quite upset with the author for discovering how hyprocritical AGB was with his research on herditary deafness.
Yes, AGB embellished and distorted the fact of herditary deafness. He wasn’t the only one, who wrote such report on herditary subject.
Someone at Gally did write the similar report to rebuke AGB’s claims.
AGB did make other significant contribution like the creation of National Geographic Society to appreciate the beauty of humanity and world around all of us. I think that was AGB’s father in law founded this National Geographic.
The cohorts of every generation have their own shortcomings and flaws from the Englightment to the Transcendelism. The Transcesndelism and Second Awakening period inspired someone like Thomas Gallaudet to be the savior of deaf people.
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
March 30th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
I don’t have the time nor the resources to do further research, but I plan to when I am able to.
For now, these will suffice:
“Hard as it may be to believe, Adolf Hitler wrote fan mail, finding time in the early 1930s to express his admiration of the American leaders of a vaguely scientific movement called eugenics…..Black documents many links, such as the Hitler letters, between the American eugenicists and Nazi Germany prior to World War II, including how one prominent eugenicist’s book, Madison Grant’s The Passing of the Great Race, became Hitler’s “bible……It’s startling how much Hitler idealized American eugenics,” Black says.” http://www.waragainsttheweak.com/offSiteArchive/usaToday/index.html
“From 1912 until 1918 he [AGB] was the chairman of the board of scientific advisors to the Eugenics Record Office associated with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, and regularly attended meetings. In 1921 he was the honorary president of the Second International Congress of Eugenics held under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Organizations such as these advocated passing laws (with success in some states) that established the compulsory sterilization of people deemed to be, as Bell called them, a “defective variety of the human race”. By the late 1930s about half the states in the US had eugenics laws, the California laws being used as a model for eugenics laws in Nazi Germany.” Alexander Graham Bell – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Unfortunately you will need to go to the Wikipedia site to check out the links in this paragraph.
“Kuhl carefully recounts the history of the eugenics movement, both in the United States and internationally, demonstrating how widely the idea of sterilization as a genetic control had become accepted by the early twentieth century. From the first, the American eugenicists led the way with radical ideas. Their influence led to sterilization laws in dozens of states – laws which were studied, and praised, by the German racial hygienists. With the rise of Hitler, the Germans enacted compulsory sterilization laws partly based on the U.S. experience, and American eugenists took pride in their influence on Nazi policies.” Amazon.de: The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism: Eugenics, American Racism and Germa..
I’ve also added a partial list of references at the bottom of the post.
March 30th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Heavy. But again, this is just speculation. I’m sure somebody else influenced Hitler.
March 30th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Actually, Mike, no, it isn’t speculation at all. All the information I’ve provided has been already documented by historical researchers.
March 30th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
This needs more research. I wonder if the Holocaust Museum has anything about AGB?
I wonder what religion AGB practiced? And what was his thoughts about Jewish people?
Im not too sure about this article but thanks for sharing it with us, i will re-read it this weekend as this stuff is so heavy and tragic and hard for me to read at times.
March 30th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Response to #14
The records of Cold Harbor office are on microfilm and covers 1900-1940 and can not be circulated to local Family History Centers. Only at The Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
247 microfilm rolls (yes two hundred forty seven!), 16mm
Description of index cards:
“Index was in six parts: surname/locality/specific trait, surname/specific trait/locality, locality/surname/specific trait, locality/specific trait/surname, specific trait/surname/locality, and specific trait/locality/surname. Only three parts were filmed: surname/locality/specific trait, locality/surname/specific trait, and locality/specific trait/surname. An additional index, which was not part of the above index, was filmed and called Index to record of family traits file.”
From genealogist’s point of view, that is very rich source of family information
The originals are now at the Digit Institute for Human Genetics, University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, Minnesota
March 30th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
While nursing Noam and quickly browsing, I am stunned how the idea of eliminating undesirable people went that far, actually to the extent that my mother (born in Germany during WWII) and all of us four deaf siblings including our deaf children (3rd generation) would have not been here if it was not for AGB and others’ endeavor.
Our deaf mother was hidden in her family house with a private teacher until she was around 12 years old. If she was sent to a deaf boarding school, I won’t be typing here.. My brother Joey would not have been vlogging..
Anne Marie
March 30th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Ok Eliz, I’ll keep an open mind then. Pretty wild connection of issues that we’re unaware of.
March 30th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Real good to see you back on the Deaf Blogsphere, Anne Marie! We usually have been busy with our own lives.
Michele, why not contact the U.S. Holoicaust Museum and other holocaust regional museums in L.A, and other places about AGB and his role in the eugenics movement.
RLM
March 30th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Steven, hope you do your homework. MZ gave you many links. So do your homework and tell us that we are right. We wont print if it is fabricated. Enjoy research…
March 30th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Annie Marie, this is interesting. I never knew this. I am glad your mom survived, intact, or we all wouldn’t have known you and your siblings!
Albert W, I would love to hear what you learned from these conventions. I met some Deaf people who were sterilized by Nazis. Also a Deaf woman who survived the concentration camps gave birth to two Gally students simply because she was too young to be sterilized.
I find the whole concept horrific.
March 30th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
To Steve S (#7)… you said, “If you had asked AGB if he wanted people killed for being deaf, he would have said no. You can’t blame him for what other people did with his work 50 years later.”
Steve, using this logic, you would have to say Karl Marx was not responsible for Stalin’s murdering of millions of people in the USSR in the 1930’s in the name of Communism… Karl Marx never killed anyone, but Josef Stalin certainly did, and without Marx’s writings, those victims would not have died.
ABG didn’t massacre any “impure” people with disabilties, but he certainly inspired herr Hitler to do so. His guilt is just as scarlet in my opinion.
One more flaw in AGB’s Eugenics philosophies needs to be clarified: Only about 12% of Deafness is clearly genetic; most Deaf people have HEARING parents, and if all the Deaf marriages were forbidden as AGB wanted, Deafness would still be here today. The difference would be that since ASL is passed from one Deaf generation to another, Deaf parents would not be educating their Deaf children in ASL, and the Language would have suffered enormous consequences.
Maybe THAT was AGB’s intent all along — to eliminate ASL
March 30th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
Anne Marie,
Off the subject here…not sure where else I could ask you this..I noticed your baby’s name is Noam? Named after Noam Chomsky? I just went to the library today to check out a book written by William Stokoe and noticed that author in that area of books. And you are in linguistics too, right? Not sure if you will come back and see my comment here.
Anyway, I am glad that your family were not affected and that you all came here to the US safely. We learn so much from you and your brother, Joey.
March 30th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Holy cow! I never realized that AGB’s eugenics philosophy gave Hitler an inspiration about in act of genocide toward Jews. And what’s more AGB was a CODA. I wanted to know more about what made him wanting to terminate Deaf people on this earth. And what did his Deaf parents (Both parents or just mother?) and sibling made him to decide that it was everyone’s best interests by rid of Deaf people.
Aidan
March 30th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
Yes, A.G. Bell adopted the theory of Darwinism on the “suvival is the fittest” and knowing he was a strong advocate as a nativist who shunned immigrants bringing their ethnic languages including ASL since he alleged that it was traced to French sign language making it “un-American”. His rigid approach with no tolerance of any culture certainly paved the way for Hitler to plow the concept of Eugenics and genocide. A.G. Bell is to be condemned!
March 30th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
It is ironic that AGB was a CODA. I never thought of that. During Nazi Germany, many deaf women were sterilized, forced to have abortion, took the children away from deaf mothers, or put them to death. CODA was disappeared. They were responsible to build the bridge between the Deaf and the Hearing Communities. Deaf children of Deaf Parents were gone too. They were the ones to lead the community… and they were responsible to carry on the German Sign Language, Deaf Culture, leaderships. You noticed there were not much deaf leaders in Germany after WW2. Hearing Germans took too much control over Deaf people for decades. I was in Berlin. The Deaf Germans are fighting for their rights. I believe there are NO deaf teachers there in Germany. Of course, I blame AGB. I read enough books to justify my belief.
March 30th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
I found out via Michele’s blog that AGB was a second generation CODA. His father was hearing, but his paternal grandmother was deaf, too.
He was probably the worst CODA ever existed cuz he tried to destroy the deaf community. Why was he this way? A forsenic psychologist may figure the reasons
Very sad about deaf people in Germany
March 31st, 2007 at 7:14 am
MikeS,
I know. I did some reseach on this area during a friendly debate on American Eugenics with hearing friends two years ago. I was was astounded to find how extensive AGB’s role was. At the recent discussions of AGB on DeafRead, it made me look at oralism in a different way. Suddenly the strong aversion of AGB Association and oral schools toward signing deaf people made a lot of sense. This needs to be explored further, imo, because AGB’s philosopies impacted Deaf people and many oral students negatively.
March 31st, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Albert W Says:
March 30th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
“Steven, hope you do your homework. MZ gave you many links. So do your homework and tell us that we are right. We wont print if it is fabricated. Enjoy research…”
Yup, they are very interesting – fascinating, in fact, and I have learned a lot from them. But I STILL have not seen any document by anyone who said ‘I killed those people because AG Bell inspired me.’
I_C_Voices Says:
March 30th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
“To Steve S (#7)… you said, ‘If you had asked AGB if he wanted people killed for being deaf, he would have said no. You can’t blame him for what other people did with his work 50 years later.’
“Steve, using this logic, you would have to say Karl Marx was not responsible for Stalin’s murdering of millions of people in the USSR in the 1930’s in the name of Communism… Karl Marx never killed anyone, but Josef Stalin certainly did, and without Marx’s writings, those victims would not have died.”
Nope. If world history teaches us anything, it’s that you don’t need ideology to commit mass murder. Any excuse will do – all you need is a feeling that you are better than other people who deserve to die. If Hitler or Stalin had not killed those people, someone else would have anyway, using a different excuse or ideology.
What about Gheghis Khan slaughtering millions of people in the 13th century? Who can we blame for inspiring him?
And what about the slaughter we are doing now in Iraq? Who can we blame for inspiring Bush? Jesus maybe?
Steve
March 31st, 2007 at 12:32 pm
“Hard as it may be to believe, Adolf Hitler wrote fan mail, finding time in the early 1930s to express his admiration of the American leaders of a vaguely scientific movement called eugenics” “It’s startling how much Hitler idealized American eugenics,â€
This is pretty clear to everybody how heavily the Hitler’s dogma was influenced by American eugenics. Certainly none of the American eugenicsts promoted mass slaughter, but this was the unintended consequence of the policies enacted here, which violated citizens’ constitutional rights. From that experience, we learned how slippery a slope can be and still to this day, we still struggle to find a balance with current eugenical practices in this country.
Euthanasia is currently practiced with certain groups of disabled people and elderly.
AGB got his wishes overseas: countless thousands of deaf people were sterilized without their permission.
March 31st, 2007 at 9:31 pm
http://www.rit.edu/deafww2 has information on Eugenics during WW 2 as they relate to Deaf people
(sterilization, forced abortions, euthanasia – murder)
click Deaf people / europe and the Holocaust
also see video section for streaming video of Deaf survivors testimonies
if anyone can site specifically where and how AG Bell himself advocated for the sterilization of Deaf people – id be interested in seeing this
in his memories on the formation of a deaf variety of the human race he discusses repressive and preventative means – both designed to stop Deaf people from meeting and mating but i dont see any mention of stating sterilization / surgery was called for
im not trying to defend the bloke – he was a bad egg no doubt but as humphries said in “through Deaf eyes” he has become a bit of a boogey man in the Deaf collective conscious
also re: hitler – the nazis borrowed many ideas from the US
- sterilization (US used on sexual criminals and insane mostly)
- marriage laws (cant marry African-Americans)
- measuring race (1/5 blood = certain race)
- segregation and ghettos
- racial cleansing – whole towns in the south were wiped out of African Americans
- euthanasia by lethal injection, gas chambers etc
all of these practices were not specific to AG Bell himself just a very prejudice US
we havent even discussed what the US did to Native Americans
peace
patti durr
March 31st, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Patti, thanks for the link. I’ll certainly check it out. especially the videos.
About AGB’s comments, you may want to check the books where I provided links. They should provide references to documents where AGB made proposals of involuntary sterilizations. Also there is a scholar who researched on AGB’s his eugenistic philosophy for his Ph.D thesis, that you may want to contact. Right now, I cannot think of his name, but I’ve read his works on the Internet
April 1st, 2007 at 1:08 am
Mishka,
I got a chance to look at the Cold Harbor Eugenics records and was chilled!
A few families I knew to have a number of deaf descendants, were targeted: Gallaudet, Hoagland (has at least 5 generations), Curtis and Foote.
In case of Foote, they went all the way to the very first documented ancestor, Nathaniel Foote, born 1592, Shalford, England and died before 20 Nov 1644 in Wethersfield, Hartford Co., Connecticut.
There are very large number of deaf descendants of Nathaniel Foote, including myself, and I know of quite a large number of others.
The records can’t be photographed. There are severe restrictions on these microfilms.
April 1st, 2007 at 2:54 am
I am trying to find how much the telephone costs in AG Bell’s lifetime.
But I found one telephone advertising was published in 1927-28 Montgomery Ward Catalogue 5 years after AG Bell died with insufficient dietary vitamin B12 intake called Pernicious anemia on August 2, 1922:
http://www.telephonymuseum.com/images/wardssets.jpg
out from this original link:
http://www.telephonymuseum.com/telephone%20history.htm
I am trying to find out how much the telephone cost during AG Bell’s lifetime.
Well currently I am still struggling myself to study and trying to understand the history of Wall Street with this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street
I don’t know if that Wall Street has info which will help us, the Deaf to find or dig more details about the Bell’s Secret Weapons history about the telephone stocks or factory history???
April 1st, 2007 at 9:29 am
Is anyone writing a book on Holocaust deaf survivors and how AGB and some other Americans influenced the idea of Engenics? We need the documents of that in writing. I want to read it because I am not able to travel to Berlin to hear the stories, and it is my fear that they will be forgotten over time.
April 1st, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Crying Hands by Horst Biesold is an EXCELLENT book about the Eugenics movement and Deaf people during WW II
Forbidden Signs by Douglas Baynton is an EXCELLENT book about the oppression of ASL in the US largely due to Social Darwinism advocated by AGBell
Deaf people in Nazi Europe edited by Schuchman and Ryan include two detailed articles by scholars re: the Nazi eugenics movement in general and how social darwinism taken to the extreme goes from:
- preventing life (sterilization)
- termininating unborn life (abortion)
- to euthanasia (murder)
in 1941 there was an outcry by the churches in Germany when they learned of the secret T4 programs that were gassing and burning mentally ill and disabled (70,000 killed) so the Nazis stopped the T4 program and just shifted it to the extermination camps to be used on Jewish people
there was not outcry from the churches then
i know of no book discussing AGBell and Nazi eugenics
i know harry lang wrote about a Deaf “scientist” who advocated fierce Eugenics and is said to have influenced Hitler and the medical profession in Germany – dont have harry’s books here at home to retrieve name the person or title of the book – i think its in the spheres’ book
i have checked most of the links cited at top and again dont see any evidence that AG Bell himself advocated for sterilization (i know his eugenics group did a one point but not necesarily he himself and never directed specifically at the Deaf as his other efforts of “prevention” were – to raze Deaf schools, break up the Deaf community, stop Deaf organizations, publications, conventions, etc)
i think hitler wuld have found him to be very tame in comparision to his vision and aspirations
this is not to minimize the damage and destruction AG Bell’s oral/aural advocacy unleashed on the US but he was not alone and to my survey of the lit. he never directly himself advocated for the sterilization of Deaf people
peace
p durr
April 1st, 2007 at 3:33 pm
#1. Funded and supported by several well-known wealthy donors, including the Rockefeller and Carnegie families and Alexander Graham Bell, the eugenicists believed that the physically impaired and “feeble-minded” should be subject to forced sterilization in order to create a stronger species and incur less social spending. http://www.amazon.fr/War-Against-Weak-Eugenics-Americas/dp/1568583214
#2. Alexander Graham Bell, calling the deaf “a defective variety of the human race,” begins a crusade to destroy sign language and to push for laws forbidding marriage between deaf persons and requiring compulsory sterilization of deaf girls in the name of “eugenics.” Some states passed such legislation. http://www.zak.co.il/deaf-info/old/deaf_history.html
#3. Alexander Graham Bell supported eugenics, particularly regarding disabilities such as deafness. He figured that deafness was an inheritable trait, and by sterilizing and prohibiting marriage among the deaf, they and other “defective varieties of the human race” could be weeded out of society. http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:A22o6HzgOXkJ:sprobertson.com/darwin/adapt.html+alexander+graham+bell+involuntary+sterilization&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=31&gl=us&ie=UTF-8
#4. In addition to advocating sterilization of the deaf, Bell wished to prohibit deaf teachers from being allowed to teach in schools for the deaf, he worked to outlaw the marriage of deaf individuals to one another, and he was an ardent supporter of oralism over sign language. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell
There are other sources affirming the role of AGB in promoting sterlizations in America, incuding funding and overseeing such an organizaiton. Since this may be within your area of interest, maybe you will have the time and energy to pursue this further. I would be curious what you and others find out.
April 1st, 2007 at 10:51 pm
I am very grateful that Patti
Durr has furnished us with more information.
My friend of Brooklyn, NYC, sent me a very shocking book,
“PsychoPATHIC God: Adolf Hitler,” by Robert G. L. Waite. While being obsessed with the Aryanization (a race of blond – blue-eyed human beings with untainted blood and completely devoid of any defect), Hitler himself had one missing testicle. Though not spelled out in the book, deaf people were amongst human beings with defects. I shall read a brief passage from a book.
Page 414 reads: “In 1935, he had planned a sweeping
‘euthanasia’ program to kill off the physically and mentally defective. His plan was implemented in 1939 (see p. 388 below), with instructions that action should cover any category of ‘unworthy’ persons….to include…those with birth defects. Within five years, some 100,000 people were killed. [source: J. S. Conway, "The Nazi Persecution of the Churches 1933-45, 1968, pp. 267-268].
On page 388, it reads: “One of the solutions to cleanse Germany would be to launch a vast program of mass murder of the ‘unfit and unworthy.’ He called the program > …. and he set the date of the order for 1 September 1939.”
Before reading the aforementioned, I read a book in the early 1990s: “Silicion Valley” wherein it is mentioned that Alexander G. Bell’s papers about eugenics were sent to London in 1917. In turn, England sent the papers to Hitler in 1932.
Apparently out of a deep sense of frustration that Congress was not interested in Bell’s proposal of sterilization amongst deaf people.
What I know for a fact is that Bell studied certain deaf families in the census returns in Ohio. He wanted to find out if DOD’s grandparents also were deaf. He suspected it had something to do with “a gene carrier” in human beings because he studied plants and sheep on his farm in Newfoundland, Canada.
Bell failed! Hitler failed!
CI Scientist Dr. Gerard Loeb of Queens University in Canada predicted in 1993 the unsustainableness of Deaf culture within ten years.
Ironic as it may sound, Jane
Kelleher Fernandes founded
Cochlear Implant Center at LCC seven (7) years later.
Will Loeb succeed? No, never, ever.
April 1st, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Post Scriptum to my previous message, Aristotle also said
that deaf people were incapable to reason. Therefore, deaf people were so unworthy citizens that the government of Athens should dump into the forest. That Aristotlean attitude has spanned for more than 3,000 years. Look at audists and their protégés. Why bother
FOCUSSING on the EAR. Why not focus on deaf people’s abilities?
That is why I absolutely love
Amy Cohen-Efron for hitting the Majority C reallly hard!
Tahnk you, MZ, for reminding
people about Hitler. We must not forget Hitler abnd Bell. I mean we must constantly remind people with my favourite Jewish motto,
April 1st, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Pardon many typos in my two messages. I must have been inundated with volumes of email after one week…:-)
April 3rd, 2007 at 3:13 am
PAH!!!! Finally I found something went wrong with Bell’s sleeping hours until 4 am and refused to get up until before noon time..
That’s made me wondering about Bell’s sleeping hours with his wife???
And also I was so confused about Wall Street between Bell and JP Morgan, too!!! Go read on this link:
http://www.mit.edu/hacker/part1.html
I lost counting the number of paragraphs.. I guess it’s on 33rd or 34 th paragraph.. go ahead read below..
The telephone had become a mature technology. Professor Bell (now generally known as “Dr. Bell” despite his lack of a formal degree) became quite wealthy. He lost interest in the tedious day-to-day business muddle of the booming telephone network, and gratefully returned his attention to creatively hacking-around in his various laboratories, which were now much larger, betterventilated, and gratifyingly better-equipped. Bell was never to have another great inventive success, though his speculations and prototypes anticipated fiber-optic transmission, manned flight, sonar, hydrofoil ships, tetrahedral construction, and Montessori education. The “decibel,” the standard scientific measure of sound intensity, was named after Bell.
Not all Bell’s vaporware notions were inspired. He was fascinated by human eugenics.
He also spent many years developing a weird personal system of astrophysics in which gravity did not exist.
Bell was a definite eccentric. He was something of a hypochondriac, and throughout his life he habitually stayed up until four A.M., refusing to rise before noon. But Bell had accomplished a great feat; he was an idol of millions and his influence, wealth, and great personal charm, combined with his eccentricity, made him something of a loose cannon on deck. Bell maintained a thriving scientific salon in his winter mansion in Washington, D.C., which gave him considerable backstage influence in governmental and scientific circles. He was a major financial backer of the the magazines Science and National Geographic, both still flourishing today as important organs of the American scientific establishment. Bell’s companion Thomas Watson, similarly wealthy and similarly odd, became the ardent political disciple of a 19th-century science-fiction writer and would-be social reformer, Edward Bellamy. Watson also trod the boards briefly as a Shakespearian actor.
There would never be another Alexander Graham Bell, but in years to come there would be surprising numbers of people like him. Bell was a prototype of the high-tech entrepreneur. High-tech entrepreneurs will play a very prominent role in this book: not merely as technicians and businessmen, but as pioneers of the technical frontier, who can carry the power and prestige they derive from high-technology into the political and social arena.
Like later entrepreneurs, Bell was fierce in defense of his own technological territory. As the telephone began to flourish, Bell was soon involved in violent lawsuits in the defense of his patents. Bell’s Boston lawyers were excellent, however, and Bell himself, as an elecution teacher and gifted public speaker, was a devastatingly effective legal witness. In the eighteen years of Bell’s patents, the Bell company was involved in six hundred separate lawsuits. The legal records printed filled 149 volumes. The Bell Company won every single suit.
After Bell’s exclusive patents expired, rival telephone companies sprang up all over America. Bell’s company, American Bell Telephone, was soon in deep trouble. In 1907, American Bell Telephone fell into the hands of the rather sinister J.P. Morgan financial cartel, robber-baron speculators who dominated Wall Street.
April 3rd, 2007 at 7:35 am
Steve Sullivan, I can’t believe how stubborn you are. We gave you so many links and backup stories. Still you keep telling us about “ABG inspired me (Hitler)”. No, we never said that. ABG’s project was inspirining for people like Hitler’s people. They never said AGB was inspiring them. ABG’s work/research inspired them to do the job by destroying the deaf people. did you know that AGB had a farm with rams and sheeps. They killed the disabled animals…. etc. AGB stopped the project because the people were upset about killing the disabled animals. did you do the homework? If not, read on.
April 3rd, 2007 at 8:41 am
Mishka – thank u for all the quotes and links u have cited
my concern with them is the difference between facts and fiction – if u can give me a citation where AGBell himself says – sterilize the Deaf or the disabled – i will be SHOCKED and i will become a stronger advocate that we all be aware of this
however all the quotes and sites u cite are people SUMMARIZING AG Bell’s work / position and i believe they r inaccurate
this is my concern – it has become a LEGEND almost
Facts as I know them (to my knowledge and i would love to be proven wrong but i need proof from the ACTUAL source – a link and quote directly from AG Bell himself)
Fact 1 – agbell advocated for preventative means of reducing a Deaf race – ending deaf residential schools, stoping Deaf people from being teachers, banning siging in schools, stopping deaf conventions and publications…
Fact 2 – agbell discussed repressive means in his “memories…”paper – stop deaf from marrying each other HOWEVER he did not advocate for such legislation – he felt it would encourage illegitmate children so he was against legislation prohibiting Deaf to Deaf marriages
he was misquoted in a Washington paper and very upset by this – spent alot of time clarifying that he NEVER advocated to congress that a law be passed forbidding Deaf people from marrying other Deaf
See Baynton and Crouch and VanCleve
Fact 3 – his preventative means were designed and intended to stop Deaf from marrying Deaf – he just never advocated for a law about it
Fact 4 – he did address Congress advocating that Galladuet U not accept Deaf people in their “normal college – teacher training program” and he WON – congress and EM Gallaudet agreed no govt money would be used to train Deaf people to become teachers of the Deaf
AGBell opposed Deaf teaching Deaf because it would encourage signing etc
FACT 5 – there is no evidence that i have ever found – and i have been looking diligently that shows that AG Bell directly himself advocated for the sterilization of Deaf people
SPECULATION 1 – if AG Bell had advocated for the sterilization of Deaf people – he would have been successful
he had money, prestige, power and influence
if he REALLY TRUE BIZ had advocated for it – u can bet it would have happened and we would have wiped up a good many Deaf families that exist today
thankfully while he was the chief AUDIST in US history – he never went to the extreme of preventing life via sterilization
there are many others who were harmful to Deaf people and ASL
horace mann
frank booth
and more
i am no fan of AGBell – he did aim to wipe out ASL no doubt
this is linquistic and cultural genocide
but ACTUAL physical genocide – termination of human life via prevention, abortion or euthanasia – no
mishka – thank u for providing this forum
peace
pdurr
April 3rd, 2007 at 9:42 am
Durr, thank you for clarifying. Like I said before, this requires intensive research, including going to Library of Congress to examine the documents.
However, I do want to point out one thing. You said he had enough money to enact his proposals. From what I’ve read, his proposal of preventing deaf-deaf marriage was turned down by Congress.
The fact that AGB not only funded, but also headed the eugenic program advocating the sterlizations of disabled was a clear cut indication of his support of the involuntary sterilizatoins. I would think his actions spoke for themselves.
Are you a serious scholar of AGB’s eugenics? I am enjoying this discussion and you got me curious about Horace Mann, Frank Booth and others which you said were worse.
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:27 pm
u wrote:
“from what I’ve read, his proposal of preventing deaf-deaf marriage was turned down by Congress.”
this is a myth to my knowledge
agbell NEVER proposed a legislative ban on Deaf to Deaf marriages – he never proposed this to congress
in ur article at top and several of the sources u cited – they all point to AG Bell’s “Memories on the formation of a Deaf variety of the human race” but i doubt anyone has ever read it themselves
in this document he does advocate for Deaf not marrying Deaf but he clearly states he did not want it to be a law banning such marriages
when i have presented about Eugenics targeting Deaf people – during WW II several people over the years will say – u know AG Bell himself wanted a law passed re: sterilization and /or a law banning of Deaf to Deaf marriages
i will always ask where did u SEE this actually written
no proof yet
the closest i have ever come is a footnote in an article by Harlan Lane discussing AG bells – eugenics association advocating for sterilization – not AG bell himself and i still havent been able to track down a copy original source lane cites in the footnote
if someone does find evidence coming directly from bell advocating for a LAW to either sterilize or ban marriages this information needs to go public – its really important
otherwise i think it is a distortion of reality
im not an expert in eugenics at all and its ironic that im kinda defending bell here and in the asl community journal
i just like us to have the facts
i teach deaf studies courses at NTID and have read several books re: AG Bell
Forbidden Signs
A Place of Their Own
The Twain shall never meet
Bell’s own “memoires…” paper – i have incorporated the text into an artwork called “Repressive means” – u can see it by going to
http://www.rit.edu/deafartists
click artists – click durr and click portfolio
so i know those sources make a point of saying bell didnt advocate for sterilization of the Deaf or a law forbidding their marriage but he did advocate for stopping them from meeting, falling in love and mating iradicating the places where they come together (Deaf schools, conventions, deaf publications, etc)
ur general original post is well founded – ANYONE advocating for social darwinism and eugenics helped pave the way for Hitler’s work
i just dont see a DIRECT line from Bell to Hitler and i dont see any direct evidence that Bell advocated for a LAW for sterilizing Deaf folks or a LAW to forbid Deaf to Deaf marriages
instead he employed social engineering mechanicism – which in many ways have been more harmful because they are not as pronounced and r more insidious
AG Bell aims have been pervasive and enduring but because they r not as overt or dramatic as the forced sterilization of 17,000 Deaf Germans as was done under the third Reich, the harm called by AG Bell’s edict in the “memoires…” are not fully understood or recognized. Hitlers regime lasted 12 years. Many Germans had no idea of these forced sterilization (estimated up to 250,000 disabled people were sterilized) until many years late.
Biesold – author of Crying Hands was puzzled when an elderly Deaf friend of his in Germany said “oh, i cant have children because of ‘Hitler Cut’” Biesold was like WHAT what is hitler cut – the Deaf gentleman took him aside and explained about the Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offsprings – one of the very first laws that was passed in the Nazis’ quest to create a perfect race
Biesold researched and illuminated this atrocity and included info on euthanasia and Deaf Jewish people’s persecution
He tells us of the fact that many Deaf Germans emulated the Nazis and set up their own SA group which was later disbanned by the Nazis (REGEDE)
much of this info is available at http://www.rit.edu/deafww2
in the site under deaf people/ europeans/ eugenics – u will see the story of franny
it is absolutely horrifying what she endured
again i dont mean to defend AGBell
but if we equate him to Hitler and the Nazis employment of eugenics were are doing 3 dangerous things:
1. misrepresenting facts and history
2. minimizing what was done under the Nazi regime
3. embellishing what was done under the oralism regime and overlooking that it still reigns today in many ways – in the US and abroad
peace
p
peace
p
April 3rd, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Don’t forget that there is variation in the world all around us. Without variation, life would not be possible.
Hearing people need to understand that it is DESIRABLE to have variation in the human race.
VARIATION = STENGTH
VARIATION = ADAPTABILITY
VARIATION = RESILIANCE
Therefore, we should be HAPPY that deaf babies are born and that Deaf culture exists.
It’s a cause for CELEBRATION!
April 4th, 2007 at 12:38 am
ASLRisen in #43:
Ironically, Bell’s father-in-law Hubbard and his desceendants made a policy to hire deaf people to work at the National Geography Society. I worked in the
Editorial Department NGS for eight years. There were about
six deaf employees. All heads
(bosses) were especially nice to us, deafies. All employees treated us with respect even though all of the deafies,
myself included, used ASL instead of speech.
April 4th, 2007 at 12:46 am
Patti,
Did AGB have any communication or sent any proposal to Congress? If so,
what were they? Reason for asking is that in 1990s at
Gallaudet, it was learned
that AGB sent a paper to
Congress, but Congress put the paper aside. In the paper, AGB proposed sterilization so as to end
a variety (deafies) of human being race. Deafness to him
was not perfect. I wish I had jotted down the source on paper when I learned about Bell’s proposal at Gallaudet.
April 4th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
A friend sent me this link to a fascinating article from 2003 on the link between American eugenics and the Nazis:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/09/ING9C2QSKB1.DTL
Eugenics and the Nazis — the California connection
Edwin Black
Sunday, November 9, 2003
I’d like to call your attention to this passage:
“Eugenics would have been so much bizarre parlor talk had it not been for extensive financing by corporate philanthropies, specifically the Carnegie Institution, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Harriman railroad fortune. They were all in league with some of America’s most respected scientists from such prestigious universities as Stanford, Yale, Harvard and Princeton. These academicians espoused race theory and race science, and then faked and twisted data to serve eugenics’ racist aims.”
So, you see, you can’t blame it all on AGBell, no matter how weird or twisted he was. He was only one of many other weird and twisted hearing Ameican millionaires and scientists.
Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, eliminating deafness has long been a dream of the hearing world, not just one or two weird hearies. Our hearing parents would have ‘cured’ us on the spot, if they could have. That’s a simple fact of our world that we just have accept and live with; demonizing AG Bell won’t make that go away.
Steve Sullivan
April 5th, 2007 at 8:42 am
Steve, if you read carefully, you would have seen that I said AGB along with the other wealthy contributors. Just like others, AGB’s works paved the way to eugenics, including involuntary sterilizations.
April 5th, 2007 at 8:51 am
“Steve, if you read carefully, you would have seen that I said AGB along with the other wealthy contributors. Just like others, AGB’s works paved the way to eugenics, including involuntary sterilizations.”
OK, but why focus on him to the exclusion of the others? The other articles on American eugenicists I have read don’t even mention Bell as a particularly prominent one.
Steve
April 5th, 2007 at 9:04 am
Let me elaborate a bit more on my last posting, to avoid misunderstanding.
I’m not saying your research on Bell’s role in the eugenic effort to wipe out deafness is pointless – it’s truly fascinating, and I’m eagerly waiting to hear more. I’m just saying don’t make Bell the whipping boy for the eugenic movement in general and its contribution to the Nazi genocide.
(That article says that the American eugenicist that Hitler singled out for praise was Madison Grant, who wrote “The Passing of the Great Race”. I will bet you that if you track down and read that book, you will see ‘deafness’ mentioned only as one item in a long list of ‘deformities’ to be eliminated, such as blindness, retardation, and so on.)
Steve
April 5th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Jean, this is very interesting. Perhaps Gallaudet still have this information.
Steve, that is a good point. The reason why I covered AGB only is due to his tremendous impact to the Deaf Community. He changed the face of Deaf Education irreversibly with his oralism philosophy. Like countless others, I am also the byproduct of his oral method. The majority of deaf people isn’t aware of his interests in eugenics until very recently.
Without any doubt there were other eugenicists advocating for stronger measures to eliminate the propagation of the undesirables. However, like you said, AGB’s role cannot be minimized, though.
June 1st, 2007 at 4:04 pm
I Love you girls
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