This article examines the widespread view that the Volkerpsychologie of Lazarus, Steinthal and Wundt was in some way related to the racial psychology of the Nazis. This was suggested in Gordon Allport's `Historical Background of Modern Social Psychology'. I discuss Allport's essay in order to show that this is nothing more than an ugly rumor. Volkerpsychologie was a cultural psychology. It was heavily criticized by racial psychologists and was used by Franz Boas in order to undermine their theories. I conclude by examining the source of Allport's `mistake'.
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