German scientist under fire for extreme-right views

08 Aug 2005

The German human geneticist Volkmar Weiss, head of the Center for Genealogy at the Public Record Office of the state of Saxony, has come under fire for allegedly saying that Turks on average were less intelligent than Germans. In conclusion, Weiss said that recent bad results of German schools in international comparisons were due to the large number of mainly Turkish immigrants to Germany. The scientist claims that the average IQ of immigrants from Turkey was at 85, which was not only due to lower education standards and less family income in their home country, but also "the expression of a certain genetic quality of the population." In a book, Weiss recently expressed similar views on Gypsies and Blacks, and said that Nazis had achieved their aim to "preserve the continuity" of Germans. The scientist is now being investigated by the authorities for his views, which are mainly published in books and magazines of the far-right.