Well into the 1980s, Strasbourg, France, was the site of a curious and little-noted experiment: Ungemach, a garden city dating back to the high days of eugenic experimentation that offered luxury living to couples who were deemed biologically fit and committed to contractual childbearing targets. Supported by public authorities, Ungemach aimed to accelerate human evolution by increasing procreation among eugenically selected parents. In this fascinating history, Paul-André Rosental gives an account of Ungemachs origins and its perplexing longevity. He casts a troubling light on the influence that eugenics continues to exerteven decades after being discredited as a pseudosciencein realms as diverse as developmental psychology, postwar policymaking, and liberal-democratic ideals of personal fulfilment.

Paul-André Rosental is a professor at Sciences Po in Paris. His research focuses on the field dubbed biopolitics by Michel Foucault, where the studies of society, demographics, and health intersect.

Abbreviations

Introduction

ForewordTheodore M. Porter

PART I : THE INTELLECTUAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF A HUMAN GARDEN (1880S1980S)

Chapter 1. The Acceptance of a Eugenic ExperimentationChapter 2. The Stone Poem of the Alsatian IbsenChapter 3. Guinea Pigs or Citizens? From the Reign of the Diktator to the Public Policy (19231984)

PART II: EUGENICS, BIOPOLITICS, AND WELFARE IN A TRANSATLANTIC PERSPECTIVE (19141968)

Chapter 4. From Micro- to Macro-History: Ungemach Gardens and the Survival of Eugenics in France after 1945Chapter 5. Stamping out Racism and Reforming Eugenics: a Transatlantic History of Qualitative DemographyChapter 6. Qualitative Demography, Reform Eugenics, and Social Policies in 1950s France

PART III: EUGENICS AND DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY: A NEGLECTED LEGACY

Chapter 7. Eugenics as a Moral Theory (1): The Theory of Human CapitalChapter 8. Eugenics as a Moral Theory (2): At the Sources of Personal Development

Conclusion

Epilogue Archival Sources BibliographyAppendix: Works by Abel Ruffenach, pseudonym of Alfred Dachert