Psychoanalysis in Germany 1933-1945 and Challenges for the Nuclear Age

Abstract

Within German society, including among psychoanalysts themselves, there has been great difficulty in coming to terms with the Nazi period. Most conspicuous among the mechanisms employed in this resistance has been the need to project responsibility on to a new external enemy to replace the enemies of the past. Among German psychoanalysts, most of whom have grown up in the post-war period, there have been two traditions or strategies for reconciliation with the Nazi era. One group has repressed the history of this time. Indeed, until the 1960s literature which revealed the details of this history was not available in schools and universities. The other tradition, of remembering and reconstructing, has been equally ineffectual in enabling the larger society to take responsiblity for the Nazi past. Even within the psychoanalytic profession political activity which might lead to greater awareness and collective responsibility has been discouraged. Information about the German policy of annihilation toward the Soviet Union in World War II has been suppressed, facilitating the substitution of the USSR as a new enemy. The Soviet danger has been vastly exaggerated as another way of avoiding German responsibility for aggressive, Master Race political attitudes. Soviet peace initiatives, which might reduce the USSR's status as an enemy, have been avoided or distorted. Psychoanalysts can play a useful role in facilitating political awareness. They can represent to German society a standard of enlightment and of responsibility for the repressed elements of German history. A new level of political self-awareness may lead to the