Rhineland Bastard was a derogatory term used in Nazi Germany to describe children of mixed German and African or Melanesian parentage. Under Nazism's racial theories, these children were considered inferior to pure Aryans and consigned to sterilization. Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Melanesia (from Greek black islands) is a region extending from the west Pacific to the Arafura Sea, north and north-east of Australia. ... The term National Socialism has been used in self-description by a number of different political groups and ideologies, some of which have no connection with the Nazis; see National socialism (disambiguation). ... This article is about race as an intraspecies classification. ... Aryan is an English word derived from the Indian Vedic Sanskrit and Iranian Avestan terms ari-, arya-, ārya-, and/or the extended form aryāna-. The Sanskrit and Old Persian languages both pronounced the word as arya-. Beyond its use as the ethnic self-designation of the Proto-Indo-Iranians... Compulsory sterilization programs sprouted up in many countries at the beginning of the 20th century, usually as part of a program of negative eugenics -- to prevent undesirable members of the population reproducing. ...

The term "Rhineland Bastard" can be traced back to World War I, when Entente troops, most of them French, occupied the Rhineland. A handful of German women married soldiers from the occupying forces, while others had children by them out of wedlock (hence the disparaging name "Bastards"). Some of these troops were from France's colonies in Africa and were known locally as Neger (German: "negroes" - then not a derogatory term in Germany) or the "Black Disgrace" due to the fact that the Germans, who had been accustomed to have colonies in Africa before 1914 now felt to be colonised themselves by "Negroes". The occupation itself had been regarded as a national humiliation. The fact that it was carried out by troop which were viewed as "B-grade" troops increased the feelings of disgrace. Whether these sentiments were racist (in the modern sense of the word) or merely "ordinary" European nationalism might be disputed. Of course the Nazis did exploit these sentiments and gave them a definite racist direction and interpretation. In "Mein Kampf" Hitler described children resulting from marriages to African occupation soldiers as an "insult to Germany". He disliked the German women who gave birth to these children, and referred to them as whores and prostitutes. Combatants Allies: • Serbia, • Russia, • France, • Romania, • Belgium, • British Empire and Dominions, • United States, • Italy, • ...and others Central Powers: • Germany, • Austria-Hungary, • Ottoman Empire, • Bulgaria Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 5 million military, 3 million civilian (full list) 3 million military, 3 million civilian (full list) {{{notes}}} World War... Entente, meaning a diplomatic understanding, may refer to a number of agreements: The Entente Cordiale, 1904 between France and the United Kingdom. ... The Rhineland (Rheinland in German) is the general name for the land on both sides of the river Rhine in the west of Germany. ... Map of the first (light blue) and second (dark blue — plain and hachured) French colonial empires France has had colonial possessions, in various forms, since the beginning of the 17th century until the 1960s. ... A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. ... Cover of Mein Kampf Mein Kampf (German for My Struggle) is a book written by Adolf Hitler, combining elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitlers political ideology of Nazism. ... (help· info) (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 and Führer (Leader) of Germany from 1934 until his death. ... A sex worker in Germany. ...

However, most of the tiny non-white population in Germany at that time were children of German settlers and missionaries in the former German colonies in Africa and Melanesia who had married local women or had had children with them out of wedlock. With the loss of Germany's colonies after World War I, some of the colonists returned to Germany with their mixed-race families. While the Black population of Germany at the time of the Third Reich was insignificant (around 500-800 in a population of 60 million), the Nazis despised Black culture, which they considered inferior, and even sought to prohibit traditionally black musical genres such as jazz. No official laws were enacted against the Black population, or even against the children of mixed parentage, since they were the offspring of marriages and informal unions from before the anti-miscegenation laws (see Nuremberg laws). Instead, a group named "Commission Number 3" was created to resolve the "problem" of the "Rhineland Bastards" with the aim of preventing their further procreation in German society. Organized under Dr. Eugen Fischer of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics, it was decided that the children would be sterilized under the 1933 Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Defects (see compulsory sterilization). This article does not cite its references or sources. ... A family of Russian settlers in the Caucasus region, ca. ... A missionary is a propagator of religion, often an evangelist or other representative of a religious community who works among those outside of that community. ... This is a list of former German colonies, or Schutzgebiete (protectorates) as they were called in official German. ... A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. ... Melanesia (from Greek black islands) is a region extending from the western side of East Pacific to the Arafura Sea, north and north-east of Australia. ... Combatants Allies: • Serbia, • Russia, • France, • Romania, • Belgium, • British Empire and Dominions, • United States, • Italy, • ...and others Central Powers: • Germany, • Austria-Hungary, • Ottoman Empire, • Bulgaria Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 5 million military, 3 million civilian (full list) 3 million military, 3 million civilian (full list) {{{notes}}} World War... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Jazz is an original American musical art form originating around the early 1920s in New Orleans, rooted in Western music technique and theory, and is marked by the profound cultural contributions of African Americans. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Interethnic marriage. ... 1933 to 1939 Nazi racial policy changed extensively in the years between 1933 and 1939. ... Dr. Eugen Fischer (1874-1967) was a prominent Nazi racial theorist, responsible for the pseudoscientific theories of racial hygiene that sent an estimated half a million Gypsies to their death in the Porajmos (see also: Holocaust) and led to the compulsory sterilization of hundreds of thousands of other individuals, deemed... The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics was founded in 1927. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Compulsory sterilization programs sprouted up in many countries at the beginning of the 20th century, usually as part of a program of negative eugenics -- to prevent undesirable members of the population reproducing. ...

The program began in 1937, when local officials were asked to report on all "Rhineland Bastards" under their jurisdiction. All together, some 400 children of mixed parentage were arrested and sterilized. 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

See also

• Nuremberg laws