Did Stalin Really Force Soviet Scientists To Create A Human-Chimpanzee Hybrid?

Debunking Religion, In Part, Motivated Ivanov’s Work

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Part of the Soviet embrace of Ivanov’s experiments had to do with their relationship to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Ivanov’s thinking was premised on Darwin’s work; he believed that breeding humans with apes would further evidence their close relationship on the evolutionary tree. This, in turn, would further demonstrate the superiority of science over religion – a major part of the Soviet project to discredit and disavow religion altogether.

Given Ivanov’s (at least partial) motivation in this regard, it’s little wonder that his failure to produce a humanzee added fuel to the creationist Christian fire.
Ivanov’s Failed Experiments Inspired Creationists To Spread The Word That Darwin’s Theories Were False

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Creationist supporters and evangelical Christians, even in the earlier part of the 20th century, saw great value in promoting the failure of Ivanov’s experiments. After all, if humans and chimps – closely related, according to Darwinism – could not breed, then Darwin’s theory, in their minds, were proven invalid.

This was the moment that sparked the widespread promotion of the Stalin/Soviet man-ape super-warrior story, because it allowed opponents of Darwinism to discredit the scientist and his theory in the same breath as the reviled Stalin.
Ideas Of Human-Ape Breeding Eventually Fell Out Of Favor

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By the time Ilya Ivanov’s government funding was exhausted, the scientific world had also tired of the human-ape breeding idea. The continuing growth of nationalism across Europe led leaders and citizens to explore a different approach to eugenics.

While the original concept involved parents being able to optimize the genes of their children – potentially eliminating disease or picking things like eye color – nationalists like the Nazi party saw eugenics as a way of eliminating “lesser” populations and encouraging the “finest” human specimens to breed more of themselves. In short, the idea of an Aryan “master race” quickly replaced the concept of ape-human warriors. Before long, the very concept of eugenics became scientifically and socially unacceptable.
The Soviets Embarked On A Purge Of ‘Inferior’ Humans – And Ivanov Was Among Them

Many political movements wind up consuming their own. Look at what happened to Robespierre after the French Revolution, for example. Scientist Ilya Ivanov did not come to the brutally violent end met by the French leader. But when Stalin decided to conduct a purge of the Soviet scientific community in 1930 – one of many purges of intellectuals during his reign in 1930 – Ivanov was arrested, accused of inciting a counterrevolutionary movement, and exiled to Kazakhstan, where he died two years later
This Wasn’t The End Of The Humanzees Idea

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It turns out Ivanov’s ideas didn’t exactly die with him. In the unusual case of Oliver the chimpanzee, a strangely human-esque chimp, claims were made that the primate existed somewhere in the genetic space between humans and chimps. Besides his striking appearance, reports indicated he had 47 chromosomes, as opposed to the normal 48 for chimps, seemingly placing him closer to the 46 found in humans.

Oliver’s DNA was tested in 1996, however, and the claims were disproved. The tests indicated he did, in fact, possess the 48 chromosomes of a chimp. Still, Oliver’s unusual appearance is still something of a curiosity.