10

In the MythBuster's episode Sinking Titantic they carried out an experiment on goldfish memory. As part of this they interviewed an expert who stated that Hitler banned round goldfish bowls because he thought they were cruel because the fish could not hide in the corners.

Is there any evidence that Hitler banned round goldfish bowls? And, if he did, that he did so because he thought they were cruel due to the lack of corners?

Improve this question
6
  • 1
    This says City Council of Monza, Italy, banned round goldfish bowls: books.google.com/… because "a fish kept in a bowl has a distorted view of reality and suffers because of this." This says it was Rome books.google.com/…
    – DavePhD
    Mar 7, 2017 at 14:32
  • 1
    dailymotion.com/video/x3dng85 is the episode in question, the expert is a Berkely professor of Integrated Biology (around the 38 minute mark).
    – Jordy
    Dec 10, 2020 at 15:48
  • Unknown. It's not unlikely and it's not a no. "There was widespread support for animal welfare in Nazi Germany[1] (German: Tierschutz im nationalsozialistischen Deutschland) among the country's leadership." The "expert" (not a historian), George Barlow, who made this claim died in 2007 [2]. It's reasonable to assume he read something from an ichthyology text. Although, he is not an expert in the field of the purported claim. He is not good authority; it is about history, specifically the WWII era.
    – adamaero
    Dec 10, 2020 at 21:40
  • Hitler's Letters and Notes by by Adolf Hitler and Werner Maser may contain something about goldfish bowls or fish bowls. If it's not there, and if you really want to find out, I would talk to the professors in George Barlow's department at Berkeley to see if they have or know where his ichthyology books ended up. [1] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… [2] berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/07/30_barlow.shtml
    – adamaero
    Dec 10, 2020 at 21:40
  • Lastly, @Schwern Hitler wasn't an "ardent" vegetarian. On top of that, he was marginally a lacto-ovo vegetarian for health--nothing to do with morality: skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/19513/…
    – adamaero
    Dec 10, 2020 at 21:42

0

Reset to default

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .