EUGENICS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND POLITICS IN LATVIA DURING WORLD WAR II: THE INVESTIGATION FILE OF THE MINISTRY OF STATE SECURITY OF THE LATVIAN SSR IN THE CASE OF THEODOR UPNERS

Krēsliņš Uldis

doi:10.52013/2658-7556-58-8-3

Abstract

This study, based on the materials of the 1948 investigation of the Ministry of State Security of the Latvian SSR, traces and analyzes the scientific and administrative activities of Theodor Upners (1898-1992) during the Nazi occupation regime in Latvia. From 1942 until the end of the occupation in 1944, Upners was formally the leading eugenics specialist in Latvia. During this time, in 1942 he visited Germany on a scientific trip, gave a course on eugenics at the University of Riga, and in 1943 published the book «The Role of Eugenics in the Life of the Nation and the State». In the 1948 investigation, he was accused of collaborating with the Nazi occupation authorities and glorifying Nazi racial theory. The materials of the investigation indicate that the Upners’ Case was, at least in part, an episode of the repressions towards genetic that began in the Soviet Union. Upners acknowledged his collaboration with the Nazi occupation authorities, but denied – and this is confirmed by his published work – the glorification of racial theory and any calls for racial hygiene. Upners continued to fight to have these charges dropped until his rehabilitation in 1990. In this study, analyzing Upners’ activities during the Nazi occupation in the range between collaboration and resistance, against the background of his story, it is argued that the ideas of Nazi racial hygiene did not find support and adherents among Latvian academic scientists, and the rare public speeches about racial superiority were a tribute to political interests of the occupation regime.

Highlights

IntroductionA striking example of this is Upners’ testimony in 1948 about an interview with the newspaper "Tēvija" ("Fatherland") in 1942, in which, according to him, he called on Latvians to follow the example of 'Greater Germany' in the field of eugenics and racial segregation.[1]
On 2 July 1948 the Ministry of State Security (Ministerstvo gosudarstvennoj bezopasnosti – MGB) of the Latvian SSR, considering the materials received at its disposal, arrested Theodor Upners (1898-1992), the head of the Department of Neurological Diseases of the State Clinical Hospital and a former researcher at the Institute of Biology and Experimental Medicine at the Latvian SSR Academy of Sciences
The final result of the check, formulated in the response of the Prosecutor to Upners, in the light of all the above mentioned testimonies, seemed somewhat unexpected: the verdict passed to him was recognized as correct and well-grounded.[53]. Upners made his last attempt at rehabilitation in February 1989, when he addressed an application to the Chief Prosecutor of the Latvian SSR

Summary

Introduction

A striking example of this is Upners’ testimony in 1948 about an interview with the newspaper "Tēvija" ("Fatherland") in 1942, in which, according to him, he called on Latvians to follow the example of 'Greater Germany' in the field of eugenics and racial segregation.[1] His only appeal to the Latvians in the article was: "And we, like all other cultural nations, will not be able to ignore these issues, on which our better future will depend".2. In the list of used literature, first of all, it is necessary to note studies devoted to the period of the Nazi occupation of Latvia in general Among these studies, in this case, the work of the Professor of the Uppsala University of Latvian origin, Haralds Biezais, should be highlighted, in which the issue of the powers and activities of the Latvian Land SelfGovernment (Landesselbstverwaltung) is considered in more detail.[3]. It is worth noting here a collection of documents, which contains reports from Latvian circles in Stockholm about the Nazi occupation regime in Latvia for the information of the Allies and, first of all, the United States.[4]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion