During this time, Charles Darwin started to develop his ideas about evolution. Social Darwinism is the attempt to use these concepts to predict the development of societies. Houston Steward Chamberlain believed the Germanic race was there "to save the world".
In colonialism, the concept was helpful too. Germany and Great Britain had many colonies. They would pick an ethnic group and say that this was better than the other groups. This would then lead to an indirect rule in the respective colony. People who conducted African studies in Germany developed a whole system, to make this easier. The Hamitic theory said that the Hamitic people were superior and should rule over the other Negroid people in Sub-Saharan Africa. John Hanning Speke (1827-64) and Charles Gabriel Seligman (1873-1940) were among the most prominent people with this idea. People such Johann Ludwig Krapf, Karl Richard Lepsius, or Carl Meinhof used the study of languages in this context. They said that languages that had a grammatical genus were Hamitic, those that did not were Negroid. Using these criteria to find suitable candidates for indirect rule also led to problems: According to the theory, the Maasai were Hamitic, and should rule in German East Africa. Fortunately, they were unable to make such a system for political and economic reasons. The explanation was that "out of bad luck", the Maasai were a Hamitic people kept at a lower level of social development. In their place, the Swahili were picked, as the "next-higher" people. In German South-West Africa, there was a similar problem: The theory identified the Khoikhoi as Hamitic, but they were too few to rule the country. For this reason, the Ovambo were picked for an indirect rule.
Arthur Schopenhauer liked this idea, but had the idea of "Übermensch": He said that the White race had become what it was though hardship and bad conditions in the North. Others who liked his theory were Guido von List and Lanz von Liebenfels.
Hitler and his supporters, the Nazi party, took power in Germany in 1933. They were Social Darwinists, Social Darwinists believe that human races are stronger or weaker than each other. They believed that the stronger races would prove themselves better in the long run, this concept was called "survival of the fittest". Nazis believed that their race the Aryans were stronger than all the other races, because of this, they believed the Aryans would one day rule over the weaker races. The Nazis made laws that were based on their ideas of race. They prevented marriage between races so that the Aryan race would not become mixed with other "weaker" races because they believed it would weaken the master race. They claimed that "Aryans" were the "master race". They also made propaganda that blamed Jews for many things. Jews were considered by Nazis, a weak race whose weak values would infect the better values of the Aryan race. German Jews were not allowed to own property. In many cases, they were attacked and killed because of their Race. When Germany invaded other countries in Europe, they also started putting people into concentration camps. This systematic killing is known as The Holocaust today.
To help increase the numbers of Aryans, the Nazis set up special homes called "Lebensborn". These were for unmarried pregnant woman who were likely to have children that had Nordic or Aryan qualities. This mainly meant fair skin, blond hair, blue eyes. Though slight differences could still be considered Aryan as lots of people in Germany at the time had dark hair and eyes. Heinrich Himmler believed that this would help create more members of the master race. He arranged for nine Lebensborn homes to be built in Germany, and another ten in Norway. There were also Lebensborn in France, Belgium and Luxembourg. About 20,000 children were born in these homes during the Third Reich.
Reichstag
Reichstag is the name of:
The Last Supper
The Last Supper is a painting by Leonardo da Vinci. It is a picture of the last supper of Jesus and his disciples. It shows how they reacted when Jesus said that one of them would betray him. Each disciple has their own expression showing their own reaction to what Jesus has just told them.
The painting is a mural on the wall of the Santa Maria delle Grazie rectory in the dining room in Milan, Italy. It measures 460 X 880 cm. Da Vinci began painting it in 1495 and finished it in 1498, but did not work on it all the time between these years. Some people think the painting has secret messages.
Thomas the Apostle
Saint Thomas is one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. His name means "the twin".
Thomas is most famous for not being present when the other apostles (Jesus's followers and friends) first saw Jesus after he has been risen from the dead. Thomas was not there and when he heard about it, he did not believe his friends, and he said he wanted to see it for himself, even the marks in his hands where Jesus had been nailed to the cross. Jesus did return and showed Thomas. The phrase "Doubting Thomas" (a term for a person who does not believe something at first) comes from this story. Thomas didn't believe Christ had returned until he was invited by the risen Jesus to put his finger into the nail holes in Jesus' hands and his hand into Jesus' wounded side.
Though not recorded in the Bible, there are many stories about Thomas working as a missionary. The Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala, India believe that Thomas came to India to preach in 52 A.D. He is regarded as the patron saint of India. Other ancient accounts tell of him going to China and Indonesia.
Bartholomew the Apostle
Bartholomew the Apostle is one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. He is the patron saint of Armenia, bookbinders, butchers, Florentine cheese and salt merchants, Gambatesa, Italy, leather workers; nervous diseases, plasterers; shoemakers; tanners, and trappers. Along with Saint Jude Thaddeus, he helped bring Christianity to Armenia. He is the patron saint of people who work with leather and animal skins because he was martyred (killed for his beliefs) by being skinned alive. He is usually represented by holding a large knife and his skin.
Bartholomew is also found in Islamic literature. In one such story mentioned by Suyuti, Ibn Arabi, Bayhaqi, and Abu Nuyam Bartholomew is described as one whom God has given extended life to and he meet the companions of the Prophet Muhammad in Iraq. This event took place during the regin of Umar.
Matthew the Evangelist
Matthew the Evangelist is a semi-fictional character which comes from the idea that the title of the Gospel of Matthew (AD 80-90) actually referrs to the tax collector or "Levi" mentioned in the New Testament of the Christian Bible as being the author to the Gospel of Matthew. According to the concensus of modern biblical scholars Matthew the Apostle is not the writer of the Gospel of Matthew, who in fact is anonymous. The Gospel does not claim to have been written by a certain Matthew, nor writes about the existence of a Matthew the Evangelist. The name "the Gospel of Matthew" was given in the 2nd century. The author was probably a male Jew, standing on the margin between traditional and non-traditional Jewish values, and familiar with technical legal aspects of scripture being debated in his time.
John the Apostle
Saint John was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. He is believed to have written one of the four gospels of the New Testament of the Christian Bible that is named after him. He also wrote the New Testament books of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John and the Book of Revelation. Tradition holds that he was the last surviving apostle and the only apostle to die a natural death rather than by martyrdom. John is the brother of James according to the Bible. He is remembered in many churches on December 27. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome. His so-called brother James was the first disciple of God.
John the Apostle
Saint Peter