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Eugenics and Racial Biology in Sweden and the USSR : Contacts Across the Baltic Sea

Rudling, Per Anders LU (2014) In Canadian Bulletin of Medical History 31(1). p.41-75
Abstract
The 1920s saw a significant exchange between eugenicists in Sweden
and the young Soviet state. Sweden did not take part in World War I, and during
the years following immediately upon the Versailles peace treaty, Swedish
scholars came to serve as an intermediary link between, on the one hand, Soviet
Russia and Weimar Germany, and, on the other hand, Western powers. Swedish
eugenicists organized conferences, lecture tours, visits, scholarly exchanges, and
transfers and translation of eugenic research. Herman Lundborg, the director of
the world’s first State Institute of Racial Biology, was an old-fashioned, deeply
conservative, and anti-communist “scientific” racist, who somewhat paradoxically
came to... (More)
The 1920s saw a significant exchange between eugenicists in Sweden
and the young Soviet state. Sweden did not take part in World War I, and during
the years following immediately upon the Versailles peace treaty, Swedish
scholars came to serve as an intermediary link between, on the one hand, Soviet
Russia and Weimar Germany, and, on the other hand, Western powers. Swedish
eugenicists organized conferences, lecture tours, visits, scholarly exchanges, and
transfers and translation of eugenic research. Herman Lundborg, the director of
the world’s first State Institute of Racial Biology, was an old-fashioned, deeply
conservative, and anti-communist “scientific” racist, who somewhat paradoxically
came to serve as something of a Western liaison for Soviet eugenicists.
Whereas the contacts were disrupted in 1930, Swedish eugenicists had a lasting
impact on Soviet physical anthropologists, who cited their works well into the
1970s, long after they had been discredited in Sweden. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
eugenics, Sweden, USSR, Statens Institut för Rasbiologi
in
Canadian Bulletin of Medical History
volume
31
issue
1
pages
35 pages
publisher
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:84902656335
ISSN
0823-2105
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
06b6f596-d338-416a-bad0-a8ff7c5e8d89 (old id 3768520)
alternative location
http://www.cbmh.ca/index.php/cbmh/article/viewFile/1612/1604
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:08:59
date last changed
2022-01-27 23:01:20
@article{06b6f596-d338-416a-bad0-a8ff7c5e8d89,
  abstract     = {{The 1920s saw a significant exchange between eugenicists in Sweden<br/>and the young Soviet state. Sweden did not take part in World War I, and during<br/>the years following immediately upon the Versailles peace treaty, Swedish<br/>scholars came to serve as an intermediary link between, on the one hand, Soviet<br/>Russia and Weimar Germany, and, on the other hand, Western powers. Swedish<br/>eugenicists organized conferences, lecture tours, visits, scholarly exchanges, and<br/>transfers and translation of eugenic research. Herman Lundborg, the director of<br/>the world’s first State Institute of Racial Biology, was an old-fashioned, deeply<br/>conservative, and anti-communist “scientific” racist, who somewhat paradoxically<br/>came to serve as something of a Western liaison for Soviet eugenicists.<br/>Whereas the contacts were disrupted in 1930, Swedish eugenicists had a lasting<br/>impact on Soviet physical anthropologists, who cited their works well into the<br/>1970s, long after they had been discredited in Sweden.}},
  author       = {{Rudling, Per Anders}},
  issn         = {{0823-2105}},
  keywords     = {{eugenics; Sweden; USSR; Statens Institut för Rasbiologi}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{41--75}},
  publisher    = {{Wilfrid Laurier University Press}},
  series       = {{Canadian Bulletin of Medical History}},
  title        = {{Eugenics and Racial Biology in Sweden and the USSR : Contacts Across the Baltic Sea}},
  url          = {{http://www.cbmh.ca/index.php/cbmh/article/viewFile/1612/1604}},
  volume       = {{31}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}