• glasratz@feddit.org
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    8 days ago

    Who knows, I mean maybe Hitler chose to fund a truly good scientist that the previous system might not have, but maybe a Jewish scientist living in Poland that they killed might have invented the same technology if they hadn’t invaded and killed them.

    That’s something that is often overlooked in the whole affair. Starting as early as April 1933, universities were purged of all Jewish professors and lecturers, with other political purges following. There just weren’t enough competent Nazi-aligned people around to fill those positions. In many subjects research ground to a halt, went completely askew or at least had to bare with a loss of experience.

    Then there was also the implementation of the “Führerprinzip” (literally “leader principle”) into science, which meant there always had to be one leading figure that all others were subordinate to. This meant that most scientific discourse was squashed and research was usually only directed in one single direction. This lead to some well-organized, laser-focused projects. But at the same time, floks of physicians wasted their time on trying to figure out whether cleft jaw was heredetary and whether people suffering from it should be sterilized - just one example.