and of course he was a philosemite of dubious ancestry. > adolf hitler and nazism borrowed much of gobineau's ideology. however, although a central figure in the development of degeneration theory, gobineau was not antisemitic. he may be characterised as philosemitic, having written very positively about jewish people, including a long eulogy to them in his essai sur l'ingalit des races, describing them as "a free, strong, and intelligent people" who succeeded despite the natural disadvantages of the land of israel. in his later years, however, he inclined, according to paul lawrence rose, toward "a vague personal antisemitism." > gobineau came from an old well-established aristocratic family. his father, louis de gobineau (17841858), was a military officer and staunch royalist. his mother, anne-louise magdeleine de gercy, was the daughter of a non-noble royal tax official. the de gercy family lived in the french crown colony of saint-domingue (modern haiti) for a time in the 18th century. gobineau always feared he might have black ancestors on his mother's side
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