War Against the Weak

Award-winning Journalist, Edwin Black, shows that “…Nazi eugenics was derived from notions espoused by a self-chosen American elite, including some admired historical personages (Robert Wolfe)” in his detailed book about the little known American eugenics movement. In this documentary film, director Strawhand masterfully summarizes the historical account of this shameful attempt to eliminate 10% of the population for being weak or “inferior.” Viewers experience genuine shock when learning that the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations funded the research that led to the founding of the American Eugenics Society. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has a reputation as a prestigious institute for scientific research yet the film exposes its ties to early studies in eugenics, much of which was supported initially by President Theodore Roosevelt, Margaret Sanger and eventually, Adolf Hitler.