Sanger, Madison Grant, Eugenics and Nazi Germany

Like Margaret Sanger, Madison Grant was a eugenist, arguing for selective breeding and elimination of "inferior" racial groups.

An American lawyer, zoologist, and conservationist, he promoted scientific racism, particularly in his 1916 book "The Passing of the Great Race". It was the first foreign book published by the Nazi Party. Hitler wrote him fan mail.

He praised the Nordic race, but bemoaned its ruin by Jews, Africans, and Slavs.

Grant wrote: “Mistaken regard for what are believed to be divine laws and a sentimental belief in the sanctity of human life tend to prevent both the elimination of defective infants and the sterilisation of such adults as are themselves of no value to the community.

The laws of nature require the obliteration of the unfit and human life is valuable only when it is of use to the community or race.”

Hitler called Grant's book his “Bible”. It was cited during the Nuremberg Trials as evidence that eugenics ideology was not unique to Nazi Germany.