The Nazis supported animal rights. But that doesn't make today's animal rights supporters Nazis
A new book includes bizarre findings about German theories of animal intelligence from the 1920s that dogs were almost as intelligent as humans. The Nazi regime went on to develop these concepts, setting up training schools for dogs. There’s an almost unbelievable report that some dogs were able to imitate the human voice and one, when asked who Adolf Hitler was, replied "Mein Führer".
The Nazi attitude to animals was surprising in other ways. In early 20th century Germany, there had been widespread public concern about a number of animal welfare issues, including vivisection and "no-stun" slaughter of animals. The Nazis took up these concerns and developed them further. Goering is quoted as saying that people who "still think they can continue to treat animals as inanimate property" would be sent to concentration camps. He banned live animal trapping and imposed restrictions on hunting.
The anti-Semitic agenda of the Nazi regime distorted their animal rights agenda massively: the laws against vivisection were used as a pretext to prosecute Jewish scientists, and the only "no-stun" slaughter taking place at the time in Germany was for the preparation of kosher food.
But there’s an unfortunate consequence to the Nazi attitude to animals: it creates an easy way to criticise those who support improved attitudes to animal welfare. When someone is losing an argument with an animal-rights proponent, the easiest jibe to make is: “you’re just like the Nazis”.
The Nazis embodied evil in many forms but it’s not right that their attitude to animals should be used to contaminate modern progressive views of animal welfare.
Animal welfare debates should stand on their own, to be judged objectively by today’s society. Regurgitating selective excerpts from past regimes only serves to create a distorted and emotionally charged atmosphere that does nothing to move the debate forwards.
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