3. NAZI IDEOLOGY OF PERSECUTION The Nazi state, in Adolf Hitler's words, intended "to promote the victory of the better and the stronger and demand the subordination of the inferior and weaker." Drawing on the "science" of eugenics—the study of improving heredity through selective breeding—Nazi authorities claimed a legitimate right to take action against those they believed to debilitate the "Aryan" Volk. Homosexuality, the Nazis charged, weakened Germany in several ways. It was accused of being a factor in the declining birthrate that threatened to leave the nation unable to sustain itself. It was also feared as an "infection" that could become an "epidemic," particularly among the nation's vulnerable youth. It was thought that it could give rise to a dangerous state–within–the–state since homosexuals were believed to form self–serving groups. It endangered public morality and contributed to the decline of the community. For the good of the state, the Nazis asserted, homosexuality had to be eradicated. The regime's eugenic rationale for attacking homosexuality sought to capitalize on prejudices and stereotypes about homosexuals shared by many in German society. The Nazi ideology of persecuting the society's "inferior and weaker" elements fostered public acceptance of state–sponsored intolerance and brutality.
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