Analyze at least two to three factors that contributed to the adoption of the theory of eugenics in Germany in the 1930s.

The struggling German economy was the largest contributing factor to the rise of the theory of eugenics in the 1930s. Germany faced enormous debt, widespread inflation, and massive unemployment. In this economic climate, people with physical and mental illnesses were viewed as a burden to the "healthy" population who made greater economic contributions. Therefore, both the Weimar Republic and the Nazi regime pursued a policy informed by the theory of eugenics, the belief that the development of the human race can be controlled by selective breeding. Their goals were to prevent illnesses from being passed on to future generations and to create a more economically robust workforce. The Nazi regime pursued a more aggressive version of this policy by mandating sterilization. The Weimar Republic, which had preceded them, sterilized people on a voluntary basis only.