A man has his nose measured as part of Aryan race determination tests in Nazi Germany, 1940 
Throughout Nazi Germany, racial “experts” examined eye color and hair color, and measured facial dimensions to determine whether or not individuals were racially “Aryan.”
The term “Aryan” originally referred to peoples speaking Indo-European languages. The Nazis perverted its meaning to support racist ideas by viewing those of Germanic background as prime examples of “Aryan” stock, which they considered racially superior.
For the Nazis, the typical “Aryan” was blond, blue-eyed, and tall. Many Nazi laws and decrees applied differently to persons they labeled as “superior” and “inferior.”
