That sounds like an exaggeration. Eugenics was in fashion in the early 20th century--maybe they didn't have a special center for its research, but it was incorporated into established departments. This research was really begun in the UK, with Francis Galton and others. And the Nazis of course did A LOT of research in this area. And the comment "It was there that the idea of forced sterilization of the mentally ill, the physically disabled, the gay, or people suffering from ethnic minority-ness first found scientific credibility" is BS. There were scientists throughout Europe and North America studying this. No need for a special center to study this when it was already being studied throughout US academia. And the United States was actually likely the first country to start passing eugenics laws. the first eugenics laws were passed in 1897 in the US, while the Swedes were much later, 1934. US eugenics laws and activities were very wide-reaching, though the Nazis went much further. It's difficult to condemn the Swedish as somehow worse than these other countries.