I must take issue with a number of the points raised by Benjamin Studenski’s column of Sept. 16. In his efforts to distance Hitler from today’s conservatives, he misrepresents Nazi theory and policies. My concern is not with whether conservatives are like Nazis, but with Studenski’s statements on the thinking of Hitler, Nazis and skinheads.

One of his main points is that skinheads are stupid and inconsistent because they idolize Hitler. However, because skinheads are allied with neo-Nazi organizations, there are many reasons for them to idolize Hitler. To deny this ignores the interconnections among hate groups.

1. It is a peculiar semantic argument to say Hitler was not a white supremacist because he killed whites. Hitler was in the tradition of European thought that ranked certain “white” groups over others and Blacks below all of them. The term “white race” was and still is frequently used in place of “Aryan,” so what is the point of the distinction Studenski tries to make between white supremacists and Aryan supremacists? The groups advocating white supremacy today are doing so with arguments scarcely different from those of Hitler.

2. Hitler’s writing demonstrates the unity of racism and Nazism. It is also important to recognize that Nazis consider Jews to be a race and thus separate from whites (Aryans). Although there were very few blacks in Germany, there are 10 references to “negroes” in Mein Kampf. In discussing the French and their status as Germany’s enemy Hitler wrote, “This people, which is becoming more and more negrified, constitutes in its tie with the aims of Jewish world domination an enduring danger for the existence of the white race in Europe.” Hitler is concerned with “the contamination by Negro blood on the Rhine in the heart of Europe,” and feels Jews are responsible for this.

3. Who exactly are the skinheads to whom he refers? Stormfront (a neo-Nazi organization) has a primer of National Socialism on its Web site that states, “Skinheads are young Aryan men and women who turn to racial idealism.” This primer also quotes the “14 Words,” the creed of contemporary National Socialism: “We must secure the existence of our People and a future for White children.” This lengthy primer also has statements of Holocaust denial and claims of a Zionist Occupation Government in Washington. To separate skinheads from Nazis is ill-informed at the least. Skinheads in this country are allied with racist and antisemitic organizations precisely because the two hates are invariably linked. For example, neo-Nazis Tom Metzger and his son John, leaders of the White Aryan Resistance, were found guilty in Oregon of inciting skinheads to murder an Ethiopian immigrant in 1988. Here and in Europe, skinheads assault members of minorities, leave racist graffiti, and desecrate synagogues and Holocaust memorials. There are many books and Web sites that provide details on these hate groups.

4. With regard to his statements about Nazi policy on abortion, it is untrue that Nazis used abortion extensively. Their abortion policy was part of an extensive program of eugenics, whereby the population of healthy Aryans was to increase. Abortion for Aryans was inconsistent with that goal. Physicians performing abortions faced 10 years in prison. Not surprisingly, a court decision deemed abortion acceptable for Jews.

There was sanctity of life as long as that life was Aryan and healthy. Sterilization and murder were applied to those deemed genetically unfit, mentally ill or handicapped. Studenski apparently did not consult such excellent references on this subject as Racial Hygiene by Proctor and The Nazi Doctors by Lifton.

5. He is correct in his closing statements. “Studying the past is critical to ‘public debate’ and white supremacists are not the only ones who need to hit the books a little more.” Perhaps he should take his own advice and get to know Adolf better.

Barbara Pleasants

Assistant Professor

Department of zoology and genetics