Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
Did Hitler use the term Aryan for Germanic peoples because they spoke a language in a different language family than that spoken by Jews?
Recall that Germans speak a language in the same language family as Indo-Aryans and Persians (Indo-European), whereas Jews spoke a language in the Semitic language family (like Arabs).
9 Answers
- Anonymous1 month agoFavorite Answer
Essentially, yes. He believed that the Indo-European 'race' was superior to all others on earth, be it the Semites, East Asians, Africans, etc. But the Indo-European family covers quite a broad reach; from India to Ireland(and of course everywhere else it has spread since the Age of Exploration). Hitler's ideology basically believed that there was an inherent strain within the greater Indo-European clan that had achieved ideal extraction. The choice of calling this "Aryan" was to a degree related to the Iranian Aryans since they were the elite ruling class over most of Central and Western Asia in Classical times. Similarly Hitler believed that strain of greatness was also found in the Germanic people that made them the elite ruling class of modern times. In fact, because the blonde hair and blue eyes was suppose to be the common physical trait of this strain, which the Germans had in relative abundance, this made the Germans the most elite of all. The Aryans of Greater Iran also had these traits, though less frequent and in less pure form(e.g. the green eyed Afghan Girl on that famous NatGeo cover).
Of course this is all nonsense, but Hitler needed these wild theories to help justify all the genocide.
- RichardLv 71 month ago
No. He just heard the term "Aryan," and figured that it would be a good tool for his Bib Lie Theory: he'd tell the less-intelligent mobs that they were Aryans (whatever that means), and they were racially superior. (Of course, Persians and East Indians were actually "Aryans")
100 years ago, European Jews normally spoke the language of their host country (French, Polish, etc.) AND most of those living in Eastern and Central Europe also spoke Yiddish, a GERMANIC language. For prayer, they used Hebrew, a Semitic language.
- oldcraggyguyLv 61 month ago
NO: Hitler was an autodidact, or self-educated man. In the only similarity he ever had with the oldcraggyguy, in his youth, he used libraries as refuges. However, hitler did not have anyone knowledgeable in anthropology to guide him in his study; consequently he absorbed and promulgated the crackpot theories of racist social Darwinists and others including the myth of an Aryan race that was an original race of all white peoples.
- Anonymous1 month ago
Hitler argued the Germans were superior to other peoples as he became obsessed w/ racial purity. The master race is a concept in Nazi ideology in which the putative Nordic or Aryan races, predominant among Germans and other northern European peoples, is identified as what to aspire to.
- How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
- ?Lv 71 month ago
Many European Jews also spoke Yiddish. Which is derived from High German.
Or didn't you know that?
- Anonymous1 month ago
The German Jews spoke German
The Polish Jews spoke Polish
The Hungarian Jews spoke Hungarian
Do you see a pattern here?
- Anonymous1 month ago
The wide majority of the Jews on this planet do not speak Hebrew at all, so that's just a ridiculous assertion. There are plenty of people in the world with German ancestry who are fluent in African languages living in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The language a person speaks has nothing to do with his or her ethnicity. I'm an Irishman and I speak Korean. Does that mean I'm not Irish? You're talking bollocks. 저리 가.
- AnonymousLv 71 month ago
Nazi race theories are hilarious. You've got to be delusional to appropriate the swatstika.
- Old Man DirtLv 71 month ago
In all honesty I never have figured that one out!
The Aryan culture actually is rooted in ancient Iran. They did not look any thing like the Germans and were not blond haired or blue eyed.
My best guess is he choose the term because it was an ancient race of people.