How Hitler redefined 'Aryan' for the Nazis

According to Nazi ideology, an ideal "Aryan" was blond, blue-eyed with athletic features.

The term is still tied to Nazi Germany, but its origin lies elsewhere.

Like many Germans, Adolf Hitler had neither blond hair nor was he particularly tall.

That didn't stop him and his Nazi party from perpetuating the ideal of so-called "Aryans," with roots in Northern Europe, as being a superior race.

Desirable Aryan traits included blonde hair, blue eyes and a tall, athletic stature.

Following Hitler's appointment as Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the notion of ancestry became more important.

From 1935, all German citizens had to provide what was known as an " Ariernachweis " or "Aryan certificate" to prove that their ancestors did not include Jewish or Romani people for at least three generations.

Civil servants, doctors and lawyers already had to start providing the " Ariernachweis " in 1933.

Time-consuming research was often necessary before citizens could submit their documents to the Reich Office for Genealogical Research (in German, Reichsstelle für Sippenforschung) for verification.

The Nazis considered Germans to be the "superior master race." Conservely they falsely saw Jews as an inferior race whose members had no place in Nazi Germany.

In propaganda films, the Nazis claimed that Jews wanted to destroy the world order and wrest control from the "master race." In caricatures, especially those printed in the Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer , Jews were portrayed using grotesque and antisemitic tropes, for example with hooked noses and greedy facial expressions.

The Nazis used this racist ideology to first systematically exclude Jews and then to murder them.

The term Aryan also became the basis for "Aryanization" — the confiscation and transfer of ownership from Jewish businesses and Jewish property to non-Jews.

The true origin of the 'Aryans'
Even though the term Aryan was common in colloquial language, Nazi "race scientists" didn't use it much.

Instead, they would refer to "German or kindred blood." They knew the term had originally been used to refer to linguistic similarities and not to inherited physical traits.

Archaeological discoveries show that the term Aryan has existed for more than two millennia.

The Persian king Darius I had a rock-cut tomb carved in Naqsh-e Rostam in modern Iran.

The inscription reads: "I am Darius, the great king … a Persian, son of a Persian, an Aryan, of Aryan descent." The word also appears in Sanskrit in sacred texts from India.

Racist reinterpretation of the term
Gobineau's theory was largely ignored by his contemporaries but later found traction after being appropriated and altered to serve nationalist, far-right ideology.

A large number of scientists and academics subsequently used Gobineau's racial theory as a basis for their own writings on the subject.

One of them was British writer Houston Stewart Chamberlain — who would later also become the son-in-law of Richard Wagner .

In his 1899 book "The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century," Chamberlain raised Gobineau's racist theories to a new level.

Chamberlain glorified the "Germanic race".

However, he was aware that not all Germans matched the physical ideal Aryan type described by Gobineau, so he based his claims on so-called German virtues that he believed were inherited through blood: honesty, loyalty and diligence.

He characterized the "Jewish race" as lacking creativity and idealism and as being driven solely by material interests, thereby posing a threat to the "Germanic Aryans." While Chamberlain did ascribe a certain "noble disposition" to individual Jews, he simultaneously emphasized their alleged "incapacity and inferiority" in comparison to the "Aryan race."
Chamberlain's work was well received in Germany.

Among his admirers was Kaiser Wilhelm II, who repeatedly invited him to his royal court.

Brothers in spirit: Chamberlain and Hitler
In 1917, Chamberlain joined the far-right, nationalist and antisemitic German Fatherland Party.

Adolf Hitler visited him on 30 September 1923 and apparently left a strong impression.

A few days after the meeting, Chamberlain wrote to the future Führer: "That Germany in its hour of greatest need has given birth to a Hitler is proof of vitality."
Hitler, in turn, regarded Chamberlain as one of the philosophical "evangelists" of his worldview.

In his book "Mein Kampf," he repeatedly refers to Chamberlain and also praises the supposed superiority of the "Aryan race."
It has long been scientifically established that there is no biological basis to "race." The Nazis misused the term Aryan to further spread and legitimize their inhumane ideology.

To this day, racists around the world still use this false interpretation of the term.

This article was originally published in German.