The State Institute of Racial Biology ( Swedish Rasbiologiska institutet, Statens institut för rasbiologi ) is a Swedish institute that worked in Uppsala from 1922 to 1958.
The decision to create the institute was made by the Swedish Riksdag on May 13, 1921. The initiator of its creation was a group of famous scientists, among whom was the geneticist Herman Nilsson-Ele . 60 thousand kroons were allocated for the work of the institute in 1922, which for that time was a considerable sum.
The institute began its work on January 1, 1922. It was led by Professor Herman Lundborg (1868-1943). Initially, the institute was located in three rooms in an old seminary building in Uppsala. Then he was temporarily provided with various premises in the Landsarchive and the Uppsala University Library. In 1926, the funding of the institute was increased to 65 thousand crowns, and four more rooms were added to the premises of the institute.
The staff included statistics, an assistant to a racial biologist, an anthropologist, a genealogy and two assistants. The institute had to study the living conditions of various groups of the population of Sweden and the possibilities of their development, to study how the environment affects an individual, a group of relatives and people, and also to establish what effect diseases have on the heredity of an ordinary person. It was assumed that such studies can identify the causes of crime, evil tendencies, alcoholism and mental illness. Research material was collected in various parts of the country.
The institute's task was to study the character of the Swedes from a racial and biological point of view. In 1922-1923, his employees measured the skulls of 57,263 liable for military service. Data were recorded on the growth, color of eyes and hair. In addition to those liable for military service, a number of schoolchildren, as well as patients in psychiatric hospitals and prisoners, were also measured. We studied the “highest quality racial material”, which included students of pedagogical specialties and students of public universities. In just two years, 83,427 people were examined (military servicemen - 70%, schoolchildren - 18%, the remaining categories - 3-4% each).
At the same time, Lundborg investigated the mixing of races in northern Sweden. In 1922 and 1923 he spent four months in Lappland . These studies were contrary to the main task of the institute, but Lundborg sought to become the first scientist who could prove that such a mixture is harmful.
During the work of the institute, Lundberg published such works as "Racial Biology and Racial Hygiene" ( "Rasbiologi och rashygien" ), "The Danger of Degeneration" ( "Degenerationsfaran" ), "On Racial Biology and Genealogical Research" ( "Om rasbiologi och släktforskning" ) and “Description of a person from the point of view of racial biology” ( “Rasbiologisk personbeskrivning” ). Many newspapers published his articles on similar topics. Uppsala University read up to ten papers a year, which were presented by both Swedish and foreign researchers. The highest point of the institute's work was the Scandinavian Conference on Racial Biology and Anthropology, held in Uppsala on August 25-28, 1925. It brought together three dozen participants from all Scandinavian countries.
After four years of work, the institute presented the results of its research. The first publication was published in English in 1926 under the title “The Racial Character of the Swedish Nation”. The content of this work was practically the same as the work of Anthropologia Suecica, published in 1902. The conclusions drawn in it for the most part corresponded to what was said 25 years ago. According to her, the number of “true long skulls” increased from 30.1 to 30.2%. On average, according to the work, the skulls of the Swedes became longer, however, no explanation was given for this phenomenon in the book. In 1928, a translation of the publication into German was published - "Rassenkunde des schwedischen Volkes".
The Institute also conducted work among the domestic public. So in 1927, Lundborg published a richly illustrated popular publication entitled “The Swedish Science of Races” ( “Svensk raskunskap” ). At the end of the book, he stated that modern culture "in many parts of the world rests on the Nordic race."
In 1932, the institute summed up the study of Sami. They were published in December of the year under the title “The race biology of the Swedish Lapps, part 1”. This work contained almost exclusively statistical data on the study of church books. The book also had a chapter on the ancient history of the Sami, written by Professor K. B. Wicklund, in which he quoted a very contemptuous judgment about them expressed in 1911 by Bishop Luleå Olof Bergqvist. The book did not contain any data on race mixing in northern Sweden.
Lundborg constantly struggled to increase allocations for the institute, and after a while they began to look at him as a leader unsuitable for the state institute. In 1932, the new Social Democratic government began testing the structure of the institute and its focus. Lundborg defended his Sami studies by the fact that the institution did not have enough funds to "inventory the country's population from the point of view of racial biology", which was initially the main task of the institute, and therefore it had to "concentrate all its efforts on the Lapps." As a result of the discussions, it was decided that the institute neglected issues that were important for studying the racial and biological state of the Swedes. The funding of the institute was cut from 65 thousand crowns to 45.
In 1935, Lundborg retired. After him, the institution was headed by Gunnar Dahlberg . He was an opponent of racial research, as a result of which they were curtailed. After he became the head, the funding of the institute was again increased. Dahlberg was able to recruit new staff and increase the number of premises of his institution. Research has now focused on medical genetics . However, the new head of the institute was forced to publish in 1941 the remainder of the results of the so-called Lapar studies. Labor was very controversial. In the first part, a review of previously conducted racial and biological research was given. It had many tables with data on 1331 Sami, but without any derogatory opinions about them. In part two, Dahlberg criticized racial biology and stated in particular that "racial biology is a product of national prejudice and has nothing to do with science."
In 1940, Dahlberg published the book Heritage and Race ( Arv och ras ), which was then published in Great Britain ( Race, reason and rubbish ), and in Germany in 1947 ( Vererbung und Rasse ), where its publication became part of the Allied denazification plan of German society.
In the early 50s, Dalberg had health problems, and in 1956 he died. Two years later, the institute was abolished, and its research in the field of genetics continued within the walls of Uppsala University.