The East Baltic race is one of the subcategories of the Europid race, into which it was divided by
biological anthropologists and
scientific racists in the early 20th century. Such racial typologies have been rejected by modern anthropology for several reasons.
The term East Baltic race was coined by the anthropologist Rolf Nordenstreng, but was popularised by the race theorist
Hans F. K. Günther. This race was living in Finland, Estonia and Northern Russia. And was present among Slavic, Baltic, Uralic and even some individual Germanic people (I.E Prussian and Swedish locals who immigrated in the area throughout medieval and early modern history) of the Baltic sea. It was characterised as "short-headed, broad-faced, with heavy, massive under-jaw, chin not prominent, flat, rather broad, short nose with low bridge; stiff, light (
ash-blond) hair; light (
grey
Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be compos ...
or
pale blue) eyes, standing out; light skin with a greyish undertone.
The
American Eugenics Society
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
described East Baltic people as being
Mongolized.
The Nazi philologist Josef Nadler declared the East Baltic race to be the main source of
German Romanticism. Also in the Third Reich the philologist
Julius Petersen
Julius Peter Christian Petersen (16 June 1839, Sorø, West Zealand – 5 August 1910, Copenhagen) was a Danish mathematician. His contributions to the field of mathematics led to the birth of graph theory.
Biography
Petersen's interes ...
wrote that
Ludwig Tieck
Johann Ludwig Tieck (; ; 31 May 177328 April 1853) was a German poet, fiction writer, translator, and critic. He was one of the founding fathers of the Romantic movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Early life
Tieck was born in B ...
's Romanticism might have been promoted by his possible
Slavic heritage, referring to the American biographer
Edwin H. Zeydel
The name Edwin means "rich friend". It comes from the Old English elements "ead" (rich, blessed) and "ƿine" (friend). The original Anglo-Saxon form is Eadƿine, which is also found for Anglo-Saxon figures.
People
* Edwin of Northumbria (die ...
's theory, that Tieck's grandmother was Russian.
[Julius Petersen, Die Wissenschaft von der Dichtung, 2nd posthumous and supplemented edition, Berlin, 1944. p. 290]
See also
*
Scientific racism
Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism ( racial discrimination), racial inferiority, or racial superiority.. "Few tragedies can be more ...
References
Baltic peoples
Historical definitions of race
{{Ethno-stub