DID THE NAZIS BAN IQ TESTS?

And did they recognize Jews as more intelligent?

Given the hostility of modern-day Leftists towards IQ tests, it is interesting that the Nazis too seem to have been opposed to them. I have been on an email list that discusses the matter -- a list including some of the authorities on the history of IQ testing. No-one as yet however has found any documentation of a formal ban by the Nazis. It seems that the tests were frowned on by the Nazis rather than banned outright -- which is also broadly true of today's Left of course. And there was certainly some acceptance of the greater intelligence of Jews in prewar Germany.

Some interesting points have come up in the discussion however and I thought the email below from Volkmar Weiss, a most erudite psychologist from the former East Germany, made some very unusual points:

"On my desk I have: Lenz, Fritz: Menschliche Auslese und Rassenhygiene (Eugenik) [Human Selection and Race-hygeine (Eugenics)]. Third edition. Muenchen: J. F. Lehmanns Verlag 1931. It is a famous book, at least for people who can understand German. It is said that Adolf Hitler read this book -- or at least the first edition -- during his imprisonment at Landsberg, where he wrote Mein Kampf. The publisher, J. F. Lehmann, sent a copy of all the books he published to Hitler. Therefore, the story may be true, Hitler was very erudite.

In this book by Lenz you can find many pages on the above-average social status and intelligence of Jews. Also the sentence on page 417: "Den einseitigen Antisemitismus des Nationalsozialismus wird man natuerlich bedauern. Es scheint leider, dass die politischen Massen solche Anti-Gefuehle brauchen, um zur Aktivitaet zu kommen." [One naturally regrets the one-sided antisemitism of National Socialism. Regrettably, it appears that the political masses need such antagonisms in order to be moved to activity].

In 1933 and 1934 Hitler personally did nothing to instigate the hatred against the Jews. He was and could never be sure whether not one of his grandfathers was a Jew. Maybe he considered seriously to assimilate as many Jews as possible. But the voelkisch wing of the Nazis prevented such a development and instigated a rising wave of persecution. There was no law about who was a Jew and who not. In 1935 therefore Hitler was forced to proclaim the Nuremberg laws, which said that quarter-Jews were Germans.

In 1936 or 37, maybe in the Zeitschrift fuer Psychologie [Journal of Psychology], an article was published on "Jewish intelligence tests". I myself have read this article. I am sure, Hans Eysenck was always aware of this article, too. But I have thousands of references and reprints and it would need hours to locate the source again.

There were "Eignungspruefungen", also for the entrance eximation into the SS, which could be understood as minimal IQ tests, but no fully-fledged IQ-tests.

In the German army (Wehrmacht), even in World War Two, there fought hundreds or even thousands of Jews. Hitler had the the right to declare Jews to Aryans and Germans and used this right in many cases. I myself had a letter to Heinrich Himmler in my hands (in the Bundesarchiv Berlin), in which Himmler was asked what should be happen with two SS-men who were Jews. Himmlers handwriting: The question will be answered after the war. With Hamlet I would like to say: There are more things in heaven and earth ...

Note that the above is just a part of an informal email discussion. I have no doubt that Volkmar would be able to refine and document his points more fully given time. From my reading in Mein Kampf and elsewhere, I agree with Volkmar's judgment that Hitler was quite erudite by the standards of his day and I am sure that the presence of Jews in the SS is very little-known

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ELSEWHERE

Parts of Europe are learning: "There have been labor changes across continental Europe recently. Denmark's measures to liberalize hiring and firing have helped the country cut its unemployment rate in half from about 10% in the early 1990s to under 5%. Spain, too, has introduced short-term employment contracts which have helped cut its unemployment rate by more than half from 20% a decade ago. But elsewhere, attempts at change have met with staunch opposition, often resulting in watered-down measures. Italy passed changes to its labor laws in 2004, introducing an extension of temporary-work contracts that were introduced in 1997 and were credited with helping cut Italy's overall unemployment rate to 7.1% from 12% when the contracts began. Yet many economists say Italy, which recorded zero growth last year, hasn't gone far enough. In Germany, where unemployment stands at 11%, a coalition government headed by conservative leader Angela Merkel has promised to reduce unemployment by introducing similar measures to those hotly debated in France. The government had to settle on compromise measures that can extend a current probation period for workers to 24 months, from the current six. But companies don't have the right to terminate contracts within those two years without giving just cause. Other, more difficult, provisions, are still on hold."

Fortune 100 loves the Left: "Led by Goldman Sachs, the charitable foundations of Fortune 100 companies overwhelmingly supported liberal groups over conservative groups, according to a new study by the Capital Research Center. Authors David Hogberg and Sarah Haney found that the corporate foundations of the Fortune 100 preferred liberal groups by a 5.8:1 ratio."

Incomes and politics: "One sure sign that the economy is doing well is when the left revives that old political warhorse, inequality. With GDP growth of nearly 4% for three years running and a jobless rate of 4.7%, it's their last economic resort in an election year. But when you look at the actual evidence, the inequality campaign also proves to be trumped up. The Treasury Department will soon release the latest IRS data on who paid how much in taxes in America through 2004. We've had an early look at the numbers, and anyone who reads the front pages of our leading dailies may be surprised to learn that the Bush years compare very well by tax and income equality to the sainted Clinton era. First, the new data show that the bottom 50% of Americans in income--U.S. households with an income below the median of $44,389--paid a smaller share of total income taxes in 2004 (3.3%) than in Bill Clinton's last year in office (3.9%). That 3.3% is the lowest share of total income taxes paid by the bottom half of earners in at least 30 years, and probably ever. The majority of American families with an income below $40,000 pay no income tax at all today, and many of them also get a welfare subsidy from the Earned Income Tax Credit that effectively offsets much of what they pay in payroll taxes."

Sen. Byrd also blocked sunshine legislation: "In a new twist in this week's Capitol Hill whodunnit, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., acknowledged Thursday that he also placed a 'secret hold' on legislation that would open up the hidden world of government contracts to public scrutiny. Byrd and Alaska Republican Ted Stevens, two of the most skilled purveyors of federal funds, used the parliamentary maneuver to stop legislation that would create a searchable database of some $2.5 trillion in federal spending."

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC and AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)

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