Aryan

From Turtledove

The Aryan race was a term used in the early 20th century by European racial theorists who believed strongly in the division of humanity into biologically distinct races with differing characteristics. Such writers believed that the Proto-Indo-Europeans constituted a specific race that had expanded across Europe, Iran and India. This meaning was common in theories of racial superiority which were embraced by Nazi Germany, and was a defining principle of the Greater German Reich. In Nazi ideology the Aryan Race was both the highest representative of mankind and the purest descendant of the Proto-Indo-European population.

Conversely, non-Aryan peoples, including the Jews, blacks, Arabs and Slavs were subject to persecution and genocide as being impure and inhuman. Most of these peoples living within the borders of the German Empire and the borders of its allies were largely wiped out by 2010.

The Nazi definition of Aryan could be flexible, depending on the needs of Germany. While the Japanese were not Aryan, they were made "honorary" Aryans during World War II and the Third World War. After Germany and Japan had divided up the world and defeated all of their major enemies, Germany began emphasizing the fact that the Japanese were not Aryans in their education system.

While Führer Heinz Buckliger instituted reforms to address the autocratic aspects of the German Reich, he did not curb the Nazi emphasis on race. Aryans were still the dominant class.