Memories of a Wehrmacht Soldier: A psychoanalytic case study

Abstract

Margarete and Alexander Mitscherlich characterised the German population in the postwar era as being unable to mourn. Rather than directly confronting the facts of the war, “Germans” tended to keep themselves busy with work, improving their personal and economic situation. After providing a cursory overview of the current German political landscape, in which right-wing parties such as the Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD) have gained in popularity, I corroborate the hypothesis of the Mitscherlichs on the basis of the clinical material I assembled pertaining to a 94-year-old patient of mine, Mr K., who was a soldier in the Wehrmacht. The coping strategies that Mr K. and others like him have used throughout their lives will be brought to light and, in so doing, a deeper understanding will be gained concerning how the Nazis managed to seize power. Bringing together a psychoanalytic critique of Islamophobia and a psychoanalytic interpretation of a Wehrmacht soldier’s memories should underscore the dangerousness of right-wing tendencies in any country at any point in time and should, furthermore, accentuate the importance of critical psychoanalysis.