upon return from a trip to germany 1934, which at the time was sterilizing over 5,000 citizens per month, goethe reportedly told a fellow eugenicist, "you will be interested to know that your work has played a powerful part in shaping the opinions of the group of intellectuals who are behind hitler in this epoch-making program. everywhere i sensed that their opinions have been tremendously stimulated by american thought...i want you, my dear friend, to carry this thought with you for the rest of your life, that you have really jolted into action a great government of 60 million people." the nazi eugenics movement eventually escalated to become the holocaust, which claimed the lives of well over 10 million 'undesirables', including 6 million jews.