[Fascist ideology and individual psychology]

This study is based on the personality of four fascists writers: Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Lucien Rebatet, Robert Brasillach and Pierre Drieu La Rochelle. These have been drawn viscerally by fascist ideology and we have attempted to understand the psychological elements of this attitude. Modern industrial society has cultivated the narcissic features of the individual of which we find the psychopathological equivalent in the narcissic troubles of the personality of the selected writers. Fascism can be considered as a reaction against the bourgeois or marxist values of modern society. Fascist ideology has been able to fascinate these writers because its political project and its project of transformation of the human being found e resonance with the personal themes of narcissic personalities who have adhered to fascism as to a redemptory religion.

The Dominican counterexample to Cuba: the American path to development

The Dominican Republic provides a striking example of the potential for economic development following active military and economic intervention by the United States. A moment of potential for reforms necessitated by the Trujillo era appeared briefly and was lost in the short period of the presidency of Juan Bosch. A detailed study of the circumstances behind the American marine action that restored order, and prevented the return of Bosch, tells us much about U.S. policy in Latin America. In contradistinction to media releases suggesting a potential communist threat, the study shows a level of corporate and intelligence community involvement in the country that precludes reforms essential to the well being of the Dominican people.

Medicalized killing in Auschwitz

Since late 1977 I have been conducting a psychological study of medical behavior in Auschwitz, and of Nazi doctors in general. I have been especially interested in the relationship of doctors, SS doctors in particular, to the killing process--in the transformation from healer to killer. I am concerned with the importance of the medicalized pattern for the overall Nazi project of mass murder and have therefore tried to examine the interaction of biomedical ideology, political ideology, and individual behavior. Finally, the work raises questions of more general significance: for doctors and medicine elsewhere; for scientists, other professionals, and institutions of all kinds; for approaches to "triage" and control over life and death; and for our understanding of human nature and human values. After describing how I did the study, I will discuss what I call the Nazi "biomedical vision" and its relationship to the killing of mental patients as well as to Auschwitz. Next I will suggest features of the Auschwitz atmosphere, particularly in regard to the psychological factors, or mechanisms, that enabled the Nazi doctors to do what they did. Finally, I will turn very briefly to the more general problems raised by the study.

Themes of culture and ancestry among children of concentration camp survivors

Response to the most stressful of circumstances provides insight into the human capacity for adaptability. Survivors of catastrophic historical events, such as the Nazi Holocaust and the Atomic Holocaust of Hiroshima, provide evidence of individual and cultural resilience. Of particular interest is the impact of concentration camp atrocities. As Israeli statesman Abba Eban recounts: "Never in all of recorded history has any family of the human race been overwhelmed by such a wave of grief and havoc" (Eban 1961). Existing research repeatedly demonstrates that the massive trauma of concentration camp internment profoundly affects survivors for the rest of their lives (Eitinger and Strom 1973; Chodoff 1970; Eitinger 1957). In order to comprehend the long-term cultural implications of the experiences of survivors, investigation of the succeeding generation is essential. The effect on sensitivity to culture and ancestry among children of concentration camp survivors is likely to be substantial, but the full scope of this impact has yet to be determined. The purpose of the present study is to begin to examine this impact and describe the intergenerational response of a culture to extreme stress.

Factors influencing the evaluation of psychological and psychosomatic reactions in survivors of the Nazi persecution

Since the termination of World War II, Psychiatry has been challenged with the difficult task of the evaluation of the survivors of the Nazi persecution. The psychiatric sequelae of this era reflect direct connection between the different clinical manifestations and syndromes and the conglomeration of manifold physical and psychological traumas to which the survivors have been exposed, often during a prolonged period of time lasting through several years. The present paper examines the important but somehow neglected, and often intentionally avoided, issue: namely, the review of the problems and reactions which psychiatrists, dealing with the medical examination of survivors for the purpose of reparations' evaluation, may encounter. The confrontation of the different views of psychiatric experts may frequently be complicated by deep-seated emotional issues, related to their identity. The evaluation becomes even more complex when Israeli and German experts review each others' findings. The study summarizes the different psychological mechanisms involved in the process of evaluation. Pitfalls related to inadequate use of mechanisms of defence are pointed out and suggestions for the proper ways of co-operation in the establishment of proper psychiatric and psychosomatic diagnosis are presented.