Hitler and the Nazis were obsessed with the idea that Jews could be identified by a distinctive smell. While America was building the A-bomb, Hitler diverted science funding to research the Jewish smell. The smell was rumored to resemble sulfur.

More recently, research has considered the similarities in accusations of an African smell and a Jewish smell:

It makes the case that there was a shift in the way that smell, beginning in the late nineteenth century, was used to not simply demarcate groups but, in addition, to supposedly detect ‘race’ and ethnicity.

Dogs have a very strong sense of smell and coincidentally, it is documented that Adolf Hitler loved dogs and there are rumors, harder to substantiate, that Hitler was not fond of cats or maybe even afraid of them.

It is easy to see why a fascist dictator would prefer dogs and not cats. Dogs can be trained and they are obedient like foot-soldiers in the army. Cats, on the other hand, do not obey human commands or Codes of Conduct imposed upon them.

Prominent Debian Developer Daniel Pocock has recently released details of the Swiss harassment judgment. His former landlady, an organizer of the SVP senioren (far right Swiss seniors group) had started rumors about a smell coming from Pocock's cats. Even the judge asked if it could be acceptable to pose questions about this imaginary smell. Obviously the judge was not familiar with this awkward similarity to the persecution of Jewish and African people throughout history.