Karl Alexander von Müller

Müller was chosen by the Nazi Party as the official head of the Institut zum Studium der Judenfrage, the Institute for the Study of the Jewish Question, in 1935. The institute was instrumental in the creation of Judenforschung, an abbreviation of "Erforschung der Judenfrage," "study of the Jewish Question." This was a project on the part of the Nazi state to weaponize historicity in favor of the Nazis and against the populations that they targeted. The point of Judenforschung was to give an academic patina to the Nazi's prejudice against the Jews. It would invent or seek out and overemphasize historical crimes committed by or conflicts with Jewish figures. Judenforschung was also used in the formalizing of the Nazis' race science to determine who did and did not count as Jewish by their standards.

Judenforschung was a part of the Nazis' propaganda campaigns. It served to make their goals appear rational and supported by science and historical record. Müller's institute was given financial and organizational support directly from Goebbels's propaganda ministry, but it was considered to be more effective and socially acceptable if their connection was kept hidden. The institute would fall out of favor in later years when more active scholars working within it would accidentally make their connections with Goebbels obvious.