Early state socialism and eugenics: Premarital medical certificates in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Poland in the aftermath of World War II

Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F67985963%3A_____%2F24%3A00599467" target="_blank" >RIV/67985963:_____/24:00599467 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09526951241270931" target="_blank" >https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09526951241270931</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/09526951241270931" target="_blank" >10.1177/09526951241270931</a>

Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Early state socialism and eugenics: Premarital medical certificates in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Poland in the aftermath of World War II
Original language description
The article discusses the immediate post-war persistence and subsequent rejection of eugenics in East-Central European socialist states, exploring the case of premarital medical certificates. Building our analysis on published and archival sources, we show that immediately after the war, policies formulated at the governmental level were informed by eugenic ideas in medical expertise. Premarital medical certificates were aimed at combatting contagious diseases and thus securing a healthy population. Their legal status varied: in Poland, they were formally introduced, in the Soviet Occupied Zone and East Germany, Nazi law was abolished, but local officials still advocated for the introduction of certificates, and in Czechoslovakia, medical certificates were planned but not introduced. Despite these differences, after a short period between 1949 and 1950, the attempts to put a measure into practice ended in all three countries. We argue that the communist takeover and consolidation of power played a decisive role. After 1950, premarital medical certificates were not discussed again in Czechoslovakia or East Germany. In Poland, the debate re-emerged in 1959–60 during political liberalization.
Czech name
—
Czech description
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Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
60101 - History (history of science and technology to be 6.3, history of specific sciences to be under the respective headings)

Project
<a href="/en/project/GX21-28766X" target="_blank" >GX21-28766X: Expertise in authoritarian societies. Human sciences in the socialist countries of East-Central Europe</a><br>
Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year
2024
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

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