The State Institute for Racial Biology (SIRB, ) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

governmental

research institute A research institute, research centre, or research organization is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often implies natural ...

founded in 1922 with the stated purpose of studying

eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...

and human

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

. It was the most prominent institution for the study of "

racial science Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific belief that the Human, human species is divided into biologically distinct taxa called "race (human categorization), races", and that empirical evi ...

" in Sweden. It was located in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

. In 1958, it was renamed to the State Institute for Human GeneticsAccording to the title page of the dissertation of

Lars Beckman Lars Erik Peter Beckman (born 19 September 1967 in Överluleå Ting, Överluleå parish, Norrbotten County) is a Swedish politician from the Moderate Party. He has served as a Member of Parliament (Sweden), member of the Riksdag from 2010 to 2014 ...

''A Contribution to the Physical Anthropology and Population Genetics of Sweden: Variations of the ABO, Rh, MN and P Blood Groups''. Hereditas (Lund), ; 45(1959) the name of the institute in 1959 was The State Institute for Human Genetics and not the Institute for Medical Genetics. () and is today incorporated as a department of

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

. The institute's first head was

Herman Lundborg Herman Bernhard Lundborg (April 7, 1868 – May 9, 1943) was a Swedish physician and a race biologist. Biography Lundborg was born in Väse, Sweden. He graduated in medicine at the Karolinska Institutet in 1895, and received his doctorate at ...

. He retired in 1935. He was succeeded by Gunnar Dahlberg. An early research priority was studying the commonness of the "

Nordic Nordic most commonly refers to: * Nordic countries, the northern European countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and their North Atlantic territories * Scandinavia, a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern ...

" racial traits in the Swedish population and the alleged downsides of

race-mixing Miscegenation ( ) is marriage or admixture between people who are members of different races or ethnicities. It has occurred many times throughout history, in many places. It has occasionally been controversial or illegal. Adjectives describing ...

between the majority population and

Finns Finns or Finnish people (, ) are a Baltic Finns, Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these cou ...

and the

Sámi people The Sámi ( ; also spelled Sami or Saami) are the traditionally Sámi languages, Sámi-speaking indigenous people inhabiting the region of Sápmi, which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Kola Peninsula ...

.Hagerman, M. A racial biologist in Laponia, in Between 1936 and 1960, the majority of research projects at SIRB concerned medical genetics but racial science was still an important aspect of the institute.

History

After its founding in 1922, it continued under the leadership of Herman Lundborg. In 1926, studies conducted by the institute provided a basis for Lundborg's upper secondary school textbook ''Swedish Racial Studies''. However, Lundborg became increasingly

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

which put him at odds with the Swedish Government during a time when tensions were growing between

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In 1936, he was replaced by Gunnar Dahlberg. In 1959 it was integrated into Uppsala University, and is today the university's genetic center. The official assignment of the Swedish institute was to study the inhabitants of the country from a racial perspective. They studied the life conditions and environmental developments of different families in an attempt to explain the effects of biological heritage and the environment. They also studied

mental illnesses A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

and

criminality In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Cane ...

. (Swedish Society for Eugenics) was founded in 1909 and paved the way for SIRB. Its mission statement was to study

. , and eugenics in general, did not gain ground until after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1918 the society travelled around Sweden with an exhibit called ('Exhibition on types of people'). The same year Frithiof Lennmalm, head of the

Karolinska Institute The Karolinska Institute (KI; ; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden and one of the foremost medical research institutes globally ...

, proposed that the

Nobel Foundation The Nobel Foundation () is a private institution founded on 29 June 1900 to manage the finances and administration of the Nobel Prizes. The foundation is based on the last will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. It also holds Nobel Sym ...

finance an institute for race biology. The Nobel committee for medicine voted unanimously in favour of the proposal. The staff of the Karolinska Institute voted against it by a very thin margin (9 against 8). Instead it was proposed that the Swedish state found and finance such an institute.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:State Institute for Racial Biology Ableism Antisemitism in Sweden Anti-Finnish sentiment Disability in Sweden Eugenics in Sweden Research institutes in Sweden Research institutes established in 1922 Scientific racism Racism in Sweden Eugenics organizations History of Uppsala 1922 establishments in Sweden Persecution of Sámi people Nordicism 20th century in Uppsala County

History

See also

References