Arthur Ostermann

Arthur Ostermann (* 1864 ; † 1941 ) was a Ministerialrat in the Prussian Ministry for People's Welfare during the Weimar Republic and played a central role in the German eugenics movement . This role goes back to the positive position on eugenics, which the Prussian Ministry of Welfare, led by the Catholic Center Party , took under ministers Adam Stegerwald and Heinrich Hirtsiefer , who came from the Christian trade union movement, and contributed significantly to the eugenic and racial hygienic ideas that came before the first World War I was only represented by marginalized groups, while the Weimar period became an influential, established school of thought. An important reason for this was that eugenics was seen as a solution for the extreme costs that seemed to crush the Weimar welfare state, especially at the time of the global economic crisis.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The welfare state principle attained constitutional status in the Weimar Republic
2. ^ Hans-Walter Schmuhl : The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics, 1927–1945 Springer Verlag, 2008, p. 11