Leon Poliakov

Léon Poliakov was a French historian who wrote extensively on the Holocaust and antisemitism and wrote The Aryan Myth. Born into a Russian Jewish family, Poliakov lived in Italy and Germany until he settled in France.

The Aryan myth

 * Leon Poliakov - The Aryan myth A history of racist and nationalist ideas in Europe-Sussex University Press (1974)


 * If fortune has endowed any name with a more glorious history than that of Goth, it must surely be that of Frank. No German word has pushed out more roots into the soil of Europe, from the Franche- Comte to Franconia, from Frankfurt to Villefranche. The concepts of freedom, integrity and power are associated with it in all western languages.


 * Articles under the heading Arier were included in the big popular encyclopaedias of Brockhaus and Meyer from 1864 and 1867 respectively, and the Arier is defined from the start as Indo-Germanic. The 14th edition of Brockhaus states specifically that it is better to apply the term Arier only to "Asian Aryans" and to use the term Indo-Germanic or Indo-European to describe the "European Aryans".
 * Entry Aryan of Brockhaus: In modern linguistics the term Aryan is sometimes used to refer to all Indo-Germans, but the term Indo-Germans or Indo-Europeans is preferable [to describe the European Aryans], since in linguistics the term Aryan is usually only applied to the Indian and Iranian Indo-Germans. The 14th edition of Brockhaus encyclopaedia, 1896, Entry Aryan, page 870. In Poliakov, L. (1974). The Aryan myth : a history of racist and nationalist ideas in Europe