Unlearning Eugenics is a book which appeals to anyone who may be interested in the moral and theological arguments behind human rights, women’s reproductive rights and disability rights in Western Europe. Gathering a century of evidence from her previous works in Holocaust studies, the history of sexuality and the history of religion, Dagmar Herzog alerts the reader to the endangerment of determining the questions and debates of eugenic sentiments and Nazi propaganda as being forgotten when Nazism was defeated in the Second World War.
The main body of text is presented within three chronologically organised chapters, each inviting the reader to engage with debate and legislation which has been underwritten and determined by eugenic imperatives. Moreover, each essay displays the revival of post-war effects of contempt for the differently abled, and the reluctance following the first war decades to view disabled people as victims of Nazi policies. The structure of this book delivers to its audience an engaging and at times unsettling read. Nonetheless, evident throughout Professor Herzog’s essays is the need to conceptualize the practical consequences and ethical complexities which continue to surround disabled lives.
The opening chapter is a dense collection of legislation and historical significance, directing the reader to engage with both secular and religious arguments concerning the decriminalisation of abortion within Western Europe. In addition, this essay highlights the difficulty in developing moral arguments for legalising abortion and reproductive self-determination in the decline of religiosity and the stark rise in secularism during 1960s and 1970s Western Europe. Furthermore, and as discussed in earnest, prevalent references to disability were imbued within pro-choice rhetoric, and both secular and religious proponents at this time assumed that to bear and raise a disabled child was to be an ‘especially awful fate’ (16). Critically, this is an opinion which is still regularly contested in modern debate. In this essay, Professor Herzog systematically navigates her way through such debates to discover how the use of morally-just language masked a greater prevalence to advocate for abortion based on genetic anomalies. Thus, eugenic augmentation was critical in the debate for abortion and women’s reproductive autonomy from the beginning of the twentieth century. With this considered, Professor Herzog eloquently uses these so-called ‘eugenic indications’ to propel her argument throughout the rest of the book.
Chapter two continues from the negative attitudes towards disability as discussed in the previous chapter, and concentrates on the discriminative attitudes evident in Western Germany throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Furthermore, the formulation of this essay provides literal links between the negative treatment of disabled people and the Holocaust of European Jewry. For me, this chapter was deeply evocative and effectively creates a narrative which is intuitive of the social and political dimensions of disablement which came to be in Western Europe. As Herzog utilises Peter Singer’s attempts to rationalise the ostentatious discrimination towards the differently abled as a backdrop for the content of this essay, her powerful analysis explores the evident connections between Nazi eugenic imperatives and Singer’s reformation of ethnocidal processes. Critically, this essay discusses how disability rights activism at this time identified the ableist constructions of disability in Singer’s methodology and became pivotal in reshaping the oppressive language used in bioethical debate.
As Herzog discusses in her concluding chapter, ‘the twenty-first century has been an auspicious time, so far, for the recognition and even celebration of disability rights’ (70). However, the treacherous nature of political regimes has been instrumental in the progression of genetic technologies which apply twenty-first-century science, regulated by twentieth-century ideology. Effectively, Professor Herzog consolidates her engagement by shifting focus from sexual rights to the political rights of disabled people, thus solidifying her argument to a universal ‘unlearning’ of the eugenic imperatives which were thoughtfully discussed throughout the two previous chapters. By providing a gratuitous nod to social constructivist approach to bodily disability, Herzog further recommends that a ‘universalising’ model of disability is needed to encapsulate the needs of those with profound and multiple learning disabilities or mental health impairments. Therefore, she is advocating an environment whereby both a social and a universalising mode of disability could be more conducive to attend to the ‘specificities of disabled lives’ (76). To conclude this chapter, Herzog relays an ambition to adopt a Deleuzian and Guattarian mutually transformative framework, an area of research which has not gone unnoticed by disability scholars, in the reconceptualisation of disability as a positive and interconnective force within modern society. Moreover, she offers readers who may be new to a Deleuzoguattarian mode of enquiry the chance to engage beyond an orthodox framework which locates disability as a minoritised entity within society and explore the possibilities of ‘becoming’ disabled.
Unlearning Eugenics is an accomplished text which provides a wealth of historical evidence, activism and debate to formulate a compelling narrative. Professor Herzog’s skilful and attentive writing style only enriches her engagement as she eloquently journeys her way through often challenging and provocative disciplines. Furthermore, her identification and astute awareness of literal links which have determined the course of disability activism since the formation of the disability right movements from the 1970s to the present day provides a fruitful text which is adequately placed in realms of disability human rights and the production of disablement in western culture. In addition, the comprehensive notes section, which is organized by page, definitively amplifies the discussion within these three well-designed chapters and is a catalogue worthy of further exploration.
Independent Scholar, Manchester, UK
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