The term “Aryan” was originally a purely linguistic term and had no connection to race. In the 19th century, European linguists discovered that Indian, Iranian, Greek, Latin, Germanic, and Slavic languages all descended from the same origin. This common origin was referred to as “Indo-European” or “Aryan.” The term itself originated from Sanskrit and Old Persian and meant “noble” or “honorable.” Over time, this linguistic term was transformed into a racial term by three European thinkers.
The first was the French writer Arthur de Gobineau (1853), who wrote an article on the inequality of human races and claimed that human races differed in value, with “white Aryans” being the most superior. He further argued that the mixing of Aryans with other races resulted in civilizational decline. Although he was not a scientist but rather a writer, his ideas gained influence because they appealed to certain audiences.
The second was the German scholar Max Müller (1860), who used the term “Aryan” in a scientific and linguistic context. However, he later acknowledged his error when he saw it being applied in a racist manner. The third was the British-born writer Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1899), who, influenced by German nationalism, wrote “The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century.” In this work, he developed a comprehensive theory that placed Germans at the top of a racial hierarchy. This book later became the intellectual reference of Nazism. But how did Hitler come to embrace this idea? Hitler was neither a philosopher nor a scientist, but rather a selective reader who sought to reinforce his preconceived notions of racial superiority. As a young man, he read the works of Chamberlain and Gobineau and was influenced by the German Völkisch movement, which combined nationalist romanticism with racism. He met the Germanized British writer Chamberlain in 1923, whom he regarded as his “long-awaited savior.” Hitler also absorbed the ideas of Liebenfels, who published writings promoting the concept of “pure Aryan blood.” This provided him with the concept of the “Aryan theory,” which Hitler used to justify three main ideas:
- Germany’s defeat in World War I, which he attributed to the presence and influence of Jews among its population.
- Hatred towards others, particularly Jews, and the necessity of eliminating them.
- The pursuit of building an empire and ethnically purifying it.
What revealed the contradiction in this theory was Hitler’s forced recognition of Iranians and Kurds as “Aryans,” given that the name “Iran” itself is derived from “Aryan,” meaning “land of the Aryans,” a fact documented historically. The Kurds are also an ancient Indo-European people.
In the 1930s, Hitler sought to strengthen relations with Iran as a strategic ally against Britain due to its oil resources and geopolitical importance. As a result, in 1936, Nazi Germany officially recognized Iran’s Aryan heritage and exempted Iranians from the racist Nuremberg Laws. Reza Shah Pahlavi admired Hitler’s racist ideology and officially changed the country’s international name from Persia to Iran in 1935. Some followers of Zoroastrianism played a role in promoting this concept, as a form of vengeance against the Arabs, who, in their view, had corrupted the purity of the Aryan race, in addition to their decisive role in eradicating their religion. It is worth highlighting that there is no such thing as an “Aryan gene” or “pure
Aryan blood,” according to modern genetics. The German race is mixed, like other races, groups, and tribes. Those described as “Aryans” were diverse linguistic groups rather than a single biological race. The concept of “racial purity” has no biological basis. The Aryan idea is one of history’s most dangerous examples of how an innocent scientific term can be distorted by extremist ideologies and transformed into a deadly ideological weapon.
By Ahmad alsarraf
email: [email protected]
email: [email protected]
