In 1900 Hungary was a regional power in Europe with imperial pretensions; by 1919 it was crippled by profound territorial, social and national transformations. This book chronicles the development of eugenic thinking in early twentieth-century Hungary, examining how eugenics was an integral part of this dynamic historical transformation.

"Scientific Racism in Hungary, 1920-1945 examines racially informed debates on society and nation in interwar Hungary, their ideological frameworks and methodological affinities to debates on race and eugenics elsewhere in Europe. The book focuses on how anthropological ideas of race influenced debates on national character as well as biopolitical ideologies and welfare models of eugenic engineering between 1920 and 1945. During this period, Hungary went through profound territorial, social and national transformations, and experienced a wide range of political systems: from imperial to democratic, communist, authoritarian and fascist. Marius Turda shows how, under these circumstances, the idea of race became part of a larger biopolitical agenda, serving as a vehicle for transmitting a social and cultural message that transcended political differences and opposing ideological camps. This important study helps to deepen and refine the comparative history of race and eugenics in Europe by providing an innovative cross-cultural interpretation of biopolitical arguments about Hungarian national identity. It is of immense value both to historians of 20th-century Hungary and to anyone looking at the history of anthropology, race, nationalism and eugenics in modern Europe"--

The History of East-Central European Eugenics, 1900-1945 redefines the European history of eugenics by exploring the ideological transmission of eugenics internationally and its application locally in East-Central Europe. It includes 100 primary sources translated from the East-Central European languages into English for the first time and key contributions from leading scholars in the field from around Europe. This volume examines the main eugenic organisations, as well as individuals and policies that shaped eugenics in Austria, Poland, the former Czechoslovakia, the former Yugoslavia, Hungary and Romania. It also explores the ways in which ethnic minorities interacted with national and international eugenics discourses to advance their own aims and ambitions, whilst providing a comparative analysis of the emergence and development of eugenics in East-Central Europe more generally. Complete with a glossary of terms, a list of all eugenic societies and journals from these countries, as well as a comprehensive bibliography, The History of East-Central European Eugenics, 1900-1945 is a pivotal reference work for students, researchers and academics interested in East-Central Europe and the history of science and national identity in the 20th century.

Marius Turda's Scientific Racism in Hungary, 1920-1945 examines racially informed debates on society and nation in interwar Hungary, their ideological frameworks and methodological affinities to debates on race and eugenics elsewhere in Europe. The book focuses on how racial ideas influenced schemes of public health, social hygiene and social welfare as well as biopolitical ideologies and models of eugenic and social engineering between 1920 and 1945. During this period, Hungary went through profound territorial, social and national transformations, and experienced a wide range of political systems: from imperial to democratic, communist, authoritarian and fascist. Turda shows how, under these circumstances, race became part of a larger biopolitical agenda, serving as a vehicle for transmitting a social and political message that transcended political differences and opposing ideological camps. This important study helps to deepen and refine the comparative history of race and eugenics in Europe by providing an innovative cross-cultural interpretation of biopolitical arguments about Hungarian national identity. It is of immense value both to historians of 20th-century Hungary and to anyone looking at the history of race, nationalism or eugenics in modern Europe.

The history of eugenics and racial nationalism in Central and Southeast Europe is a neglected topic of analysis in contemporary scholarship. Moreover, national historiographies in Central and Southeast Europe have either marginalized eugenics and racial nationalism or deemed them incompatible with their respective national traditions. Accordingly, this volume has a two-fold ambition: to excavate the hitherto unknown eugenic movements in Central and Southeast Europe and to explain their relationship with racism, nationalism and anti-Semitism. On the one hand, the historiographic perspective substantiated in this volume connects developments in the history of racial anthropology, genetics and eugenics with political ideologies such as racial nationalism and anti-Semitism; on the other hand, it contests the 'Sonderweg' approach adopted by scholars dealing these phenomena in Central and Southeast Europe by arguing that concerns with eugenics and race were as widely disseminated in these regions as they were in Western Europe and North America. Book jacket.

Coercion and Wage Labour presents novel histories of people who experienced physical, social, political or cultural compulsion in the course of paid work. Broad in scope, the chapters examine diverse areas of work including textile production, war industries, civil service and domestic labour, in contexts from the Middle Ages to the present day. They demonstrate that wages have consistently shaped working people’s experiences, and failed to protect workers from coercion. Instead, wages emerge as versatile tools to bind, control, and exploit workers. Remuneration mirrors the distribution of power in labour relations, often separating employers physically and emotionally from their employees, and disguising coercion. The book makes historical narratives accessible for interdisciplinary audiences. Most chapters are preceded by illustrations by artists invited to visually conceptualise the book’s key messages and to emphasise the presence of the body and landscape in the realm of work. In turn, the chapter texts reflect back on the artworks, creating an intense intermedial dialogue that offers mutually relational ‘translations’ and narrations of labour coercion. Other contributions written by art scholars discuss how coercion in remunerated labour is constructed and reflected in artistic practice. The collection serves as an innovative and creative tool for teaching, and raises awareness that narrating history is always contingent on the medium chosen and its inherent constraints and possibilities. Praise for Coercion and Wage Labour Coercion and Wage Labour is a pioneering volume. It makes a well-founded break with the widespread misconception that wage labour is by definition free from coercion. The fourteen historical case studies ... lead to the conclusion that wage labourers too were subject to many forms of coercion and that usually their “freedom” was and is only relative. But something else makes this book special: throughout the text there are artistic illustrations that enter into a dialogue with the individual chapters, which in turn reflect on the images. This creates an inspiring interaction that complements the volume’s interdisciplinary nature. Marcel van der Linden, International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam