History Minute (084): KKK concept of the Nordic noble race

The Ku Klux Klan combined its concept of race with contemporary thought about eugenics -- good genes versus bad ones. Klansmen religious nationalist talk about the past is frequently in terms of inherited "Nordic-ness".  White Americans -- at least those of Nordic descent, as a certain percentage of Anglos are thought to be -- are part of a "noble race". In their view, God intentionally gave America to this noble race of superior white men for the purpose of their rebirth and expansion. God has destined them to save white civilization.

Members of this noble race of superior white men can be identified, in their thinking, by their "Nordic" traits: wavy brown or blond hair; light skin; eyes that are blue, grey, or biscuit; a nose that is symmetrical; a sturdy physique; and a skull that is relatively long, with a width of less than 80% of its length. Such people might come typically from eastern Germany, Poland, and Russia, as well as eastern Ukraine -- though not every person from these lands are members of the "noble race".

Members of this Nordic "noble race" allegedly created ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, both of which declined due to intermarriage with non-Nordic people. They say further, that when the Roman Empire fell, it was Nordic Goths who acquired the science, literature, and aesthetics of the Roman Empire and supposedly initiated the Renaissance. They assert that all the great minds of this era -- Dante, Michelangelo, da Vinci, etc. -- were racially Nordic. In our time, they claim that the vast majority of people of the British Isles belong to the Nordic race -- most especially Scotland, where the race is thought to be most pure.

Read more:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21567689.2020.1809384