“The future of our nation is at stake” – eugenics in Croatian medicine until the end of the First World War

Abstract

The paper analyzes the circumstances behind the first eugenic discussions in Croatia from the end of the nineteenth century until 1918. Based on the original articles published in Liječnički vjesnik, it can be demonstrated that eugenic thinking mostly permeated the medical debates on the so-called social diseases (tuberculosis, syphilis, alcoholism) in the context of public health policies. Following the Lamarckian notion on the inheritance of acquired characteristics, Croatian physicians believed that the health of the hereditary material could be improved and the nation’s degeneration reversed by improving the social-hygienic conditions and education, but also with coercive measures such as marriage prohibitions. Although their deliberations did not lead to the founding of eugenic societies or elaborate eugenic programs, they did influence the early institutionalization of Croatian medicine. Eugenic concepts that insisted on national prosperity through biological strengthening added to the South Slavic political project and rhetorically, symbolically and ideologically opposed the Habsburg Monarchy.

Keywords

• eugenics – history
• methods; public health – history; health policy – history; tuberculosis – history; syphilis – history; alcoholism – history; physicians – history; schools
• medical – history; history
• 19th century; history