Untermench Upd

The word Untermensch predates the Third Reich. It appeared sporadically in 19th-century German literature, often in a purely descriptive sense (e.g., a person of low social standing). However, its first significant ideological use came from the American white supremacist and eugenicist Lothrop Stoddard, whose 1922 book The Revolt Against Civilization used the term under-man to describe what he saw as the biological inferiority of non-white races. The German translation, Der Kulturumsturz: Die Drohung des Untermenschen (1925), introduced the term to German audiences.

While Jews were the primary target of extermination, the term Untermensch was most systematically applied to Slavic peoples—Russians, Poles, Ukrainians, and Belarusians. The Generalplan Ost (Master Plan East), a secret Nazi plan for Eastern European colonization, classified over 30 million Slavs as Untermenschen to be displaced, starved, or worked to death. Himmler famously told SS leaders in 1943: untermench