Caricature from Kladderadatsch, a satirical journal, September 1933. Lab animals giving the Roman salute to Hermann Göring for his order to ban vivisection.
As with most things regarding Nazi Germany, none of this makes any sense. Maybe they had too much lead in their diet. Came across this picture and then I did a little reading in ye olde Wikipedia. From the article on Animal welfare in Nazi Germany:
At the end of the nineteenth century, kosher butchering and vivisection were the main concerns regarding animal protection in Germany. These concerns continued among the Nazis. According to Boria Sax, the Nazis rejected anthropocentric reasons for animal protection—animals were not to be protected for human interests—but for themselves. In 1927, a Nazi representative to the Reichstag called for actions against cruelty to animals and kosher butchering.I had never heard any complaints about kosher butchering before. All I had heard is it had to be done by someone with some standing in the church, like a priest or a rabbi or something. So I go look that up and find a article titled Shechita which is a Jewish word for Kosher slaughter, though I don't know why they can't just call it slaughter instead of this funny, made up name. In any case, they give an explanation of the requirements (slightly condensed by me):
The animal must be killed "with respect and compassion" by a Jew who is duly licensed and trained. The act is performed by severing the trachea, esophagus, carotid arteries, jugular veins and vagus nerve in a swift action using an extremely sharp blade. This results in a rapid drop in blood pressure in the brain and loss of consciousness. According to Jewish religious sources, the animal is now insensible to pain and exsanguinates in a prompt and precise action.This sounds like a pretty good way, i.e. humane, way of killing an animal. I can't imagine why people were opposed to it, unless they didn't like all the blood. Or maybe they just didn't like the idea of Jews having knives.
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