Exhibit

Creating the Racial State

Politics, Culture, and Purity of Blood in Hitler's Germany
Postcard with the head of Adolf Hitler in profile superimposed over a map of Nazi-era Germany
Ein Volk–Ein Reich–Ein Führer. Postcard sent by Alois Ullman to Friedrich [Mehlingen?], 1938. MS Span 185 2:59.
Black and white photograph showing a concentration camp prisoner at Nordhausen-Dora wearing a striped uniform and cap, pointing a finger accusingly at a SS guard, with two guards in the background.
Nordhausen-Dora concentration camp, 1945. Photographer unknown. MS Span 185 30:19.
Pink identity card for Czeslawa Trawinski, a French schoolgirl in Douai, with her black and white photograph stapled in the upper right corner, with typed text describing her physical appearance and ancestry.
Identity card for Czeslawa Trawinski, a French schoolgirl identified as of Polish descent, 1942. MS Span 185 8:28.
Black and white photograph showing the prisoner’s dock in the Nuremberg trials courtroom, with the accused seated in a row with military guards wearing white helmets standing behind them.
Nuremberg trials courtroom (detail), circa 1945–1946. Yevgeny Khaldei, photographer.
Postcard with the head of Adolf Hitler in profile superimposed over a map of Nazi-era Germany Black and white photograph showing a concentration camp prisoner at Nordhausen-Dora wearing a striped uniform and cap, pointing a finger accusingly at a SS guard, with two guards in the background. Pink identity card for Czeslawa Trawinski, a French schoolgirl in Douai, with her black and white photograph stapled in the upper right corner, with typed text describing her physical appearance and ancestry. Black and white photograph showing the prisoner’s dock in the Nuremberg trials courtroom, with the accused seated in a row with military guards wearing white helmets standing behind them.

Jan 31, 2022 through Apr 22, 2022

Open to the public

Location

Edison and Newman Room, 1st Floor
Houghton Library
Harvard Yard
Cambridge, MA 02138
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Directions to Houghton Library

Following Germany’s defeat in World War I, Adolf Hitler emerged as a leader by promising a return to the country's former glory. He envisioned a state designed to sustain and protect the lives of a pure-blooded master "Aryan" race through the exclusion or extermination of all "others." Creating the Racial State explores this history and its reverberation in American culture.

Notable items include:

  • Photographs by Hitler’s official photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann
  • Badges and armbands used to identify Jewish people in the Nazi state
  • The genealogical document used by Henrich Himmler to prove the purity of his “Aryan” blood
  • The data sheet on Irma Grese, the SS guard known as “The Hyena of Auschwitz”
  • Documents used by Benjamin Kaplan, a key member of Justice Robert Jackson’s staff during the Nazi’s prosecution for crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials

This exhibition contains images of death and violence, and documents with racist text and symbols, and may cause distress or offense.

The exhibition was curated by Keidrick Roy, a PhD candidate in American Studies at Harvard University.

Planning to visit?

Creating the Racial State is on view January 24 – April 22, 2022.  The exhibition is open to all visitors with proof of vaccination and booster; face coverings are recommended.