MONOCULTURE | A Recent History

In 1926, German readers of racial magazines were challenged to submit portraits of the ideal 'Nordic' man or woman. Participants were advised to delve into eugenics by reading books such as Menschliche Erheitlehre und Rassen hygiene by Erwin Baur, Eugen Fischer and Fritz Lenz. In this way, publisher J. F. Lehmann, who sponsored the competition, and Eugen Fischer and Hans Günther, the competition's jury, wanted to popularise race theory by not only getting people to read about it, but by directly involving them as well. In addition to an introduction by both jury members, Deutsche Köpfe nordischer Rasse also features 50 photos of the winners and laureates. It is striking that, although the judges described the winning photo in the category 'men' as 'fully in line with the Nordic racial ideal', they couldn't identify any submission in the category 'women' that could capture 'the essence of the Nordicrace'. And so the first prize in this category wasn't awarded. This points to the focus on masculinity in race theories and, by extension, in the entire Nazi ideology.