the roots of nazi psychology

By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. The book's main subject was the racist-occult movement of Ariosophy, a major strand of nationalist esotericism in Germany and Austria during the 1800s and early 1900s. )[19], Similarly to Rauschning, August Kubizek, one of Hitler's closest friends since childhood, claims that Hitler—17 years old at the time—once spoke to him of "returning Germany to its former glory"; of this comment August said, "It was as if another being spoke out of his body, and moved him as much as it did me. Already in 1933 a pseudonymous Kurt van Emsen described Hitler as a "demonic personality", but his work was soon forgotten. 453. But the claim that Hitler and the Thule Society conspired to create a New World Order (a conspiracy theory, put forward on some webpages)[28] is completely unfounded. There are, for example, times when an individual has difficulty concentrating attention on a task, a conversation, or a set of events. "[13] These reviews reflect the greatest dilemmas in Nazi occultist scholarship; the discernment between actual efficacy of possible occult practices by Nazi leaders, purpose of these practices, and modern notions and applications of occultism today largely impact the appropriate scholarship in general in making connections between plausible Nazi Ariosophic practices and blatant popular myth.[11]. He had been imprisoned in Nazi Germany for seven months and his doctoral degree was revoked. [...] Cuts mix Hitler screaming with regiments marching under the sign of the swastika. Political Violence Under The Swastika: 581 Early Nazis. 1,002 rolls, Hitler and the Occult: Nazism, Reincarnation, and Rock Culture, White Blood, White Gods: An Assessment of Racialist Paganism in the United States, Von Aldebaran bis Vril. [...] They were people who probably considered themselves good citizens, which is far more frightening than had they merely been demons. Peter H. Merkl. "[10], By the early 1960s, "one could now clearly detect a mystique of Nazism. Many psychologists came to regard the conditioned reflex (an involuntary response conditioned by reward) as the basic building block of all human learning. Coeditor of. It is not necessarily held under voluntary control. 156. 1975. Another critique of Hitler documentaries: "Even with all I know, if in this cell Hitler should come to me and say 'Do this! To understand the roots of positive psychology, we have to revisit the three waves of psychology that came before that. Despite several allegations and speculations to the contrary, there is no evidence of such an encounter. National Socialism (Nazism) is a far-left totalitarian system originally created in Germany immediately following World War I, and characterized by a collectivist view toward race.Nazism was heavily influenced by Democratic Party and Progressive ideology. Goodrick-Clarke (2003: 110). Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Theosophist Alice A. Bailey stated during World War II that Adolf Hitler was possessed by what she called the Dark Forces. Psychology is a relatively young science with its experimental roots in the 19th century, compared, for example, to human physiology, which dates much earlier. [3] The idolization of Hitler in Nazi Germany, its short-lived dominion on the European continent and Nazism's extreme antisemitism set it apart from other periods of modern history. The most influential books were Trevor Ravenscroft's The Spear of Destiny and The Morning of the Magicians by Pauwels and Bergier. [2], There is a persistent idea, widely canvassed in a sensational genre of literature, that the Nazis were principally inspired and directed by occult agencies from 1920 to 1945.[3]. In it, Nagl writes that the racial narratives described in contemporary German Science Fiction stories, like The Last Queen of Atlantis, by Edmund Kiss, provide further notions of racial superiority under the auspices of Ariosophy, Aryanism, and alleged historic racial Mysticism, suggesting that writings associated with possible Occultism, Ariosophy, or Aryanism were products intended to influence and justify in a socio-political manner, rather than simply establish cultural heritage. 1988. Corrections? In Nazi Germany, Jews were often depicted as rats and parasites; an amoral ‘race’ obsessed with money and intent on destroying the country. Other reliable summaries of the development of the genre have been written by German historians. He suggested that the range of the Blickpunkt was about six items or groups. [2], Goodrick-Clarke opined that the Ariosophist movement took Völkisch ideas and added occultish themes about things like Freemasonry, Kabbalism, and Rosicrucianism in order to "prove the modern world was based on false and evil principles". [49] After the author Dusty Sklar has pointed out that Hitler's suicide happened at the night of April 30/May 1, which is Walpurgis Night, the narrator continues: "With Hitler gone, it was as if a spell had been broken". Attention, in psychology, the concentration of awareness on some phenomenon to the exclusion of other stimuli. The roots of positive psychology lie in the pioneering theories of Rogers (1951), Maslow (1962), Erikson (1982), and Jahoda (1958), among many others. 1 (3): 190. In the late 1920s to early 1930s Hanussen made political predictions in his own newspaper, Hanussens Bunte Wochenschau, that gradually started to favour Hitler, but until late 1932 these predictions varied. In his words, these books describe Hitler and the Nazis as being controlled by a "hidden power . Housden, Martyn. To further prove the point, Merkl discovered that of those willing to submit their testimonies, "Protestants tended to be German Romantics, Catholics to be anti-Semites, superpatriots, and solidarists. Focalization, concentration, of consciousness are of its essence. Historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke analyzed the topic in his 1985 book The Occult Roots of Nazism in which he argued there were in fact links between some ideals of Ariosophy and Nazi ideology. [4] Characteristic tendencies of this literature include: (1) "a complete ignorance of primary sources" and (2) the repetition of "inaccuracies and wild claims", without the attempt being made to confirm even "wholly spurious 'facts'". The documentary then interviews Dusty Sklar about the contact between Hitler and Hanussen, and the narrator makes the statement about “occult techniques of mind control and crowd domination.”, Whether Hitler had met Hanussen at all is not certain. The Psychological Roots of … "[20], An article "Hitler's Forgotten Library" by Timothy Ryback, published in The Atlantic (May 2003),[21] mentions a book from Hitler's private library authored by Ernst Schertel. [35] The first allusions that Hitler was directed by occult forces which were taken up by the later authors came from French Christian esotericist René Kopp. It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others. How convenient it would be if this image were correct. In 1906 another prominent psychologist, W.B. Psychology is a relatively young science with its experimental roots in the 19th century, compared, for example, to human physiology, which dates much earlier. Microfilm Publication T580. Nagl, Manfred. Otherwise the whole book by Goodrick-Clarke does without any reference to this kind of literature; it uses other sources. From the perspective of academic history, these documentaries on Nazism, if ever commented, are seen as problematic because they do not contribute to an actual understanding of the problems that arise in the study of Nazism and Neo-Nazism. [36] In other French esoteric journals of the 1930s, Hakl could not find similar hints. The best that can be said for Rauschning's claims may be Goodrick-Clarke's judgment that they "record ... the authentic voice of Hitler by inspired guesswork and imagination" (. "Review". 1988. [51] Hakl comments that Greve should have emphasized more strongly the unreliability of authors like Bergier and Pauwels or Angbert. While Hitler's speech is not translated, the narrator talks about the German occultist and stage mentalist Erik Jan Hanussen: "Occultists believe, Hanussen may also have imparted occult techniques of mind control and crowd domination on Hitler" (see below). As he remarks, "The true value of this study, therefore, lies in its painstaking elucidation of an intrinsically fascinating subculture which helped colour rather than cause aspects of Nazism. [40] He terms this genre "crypto-history", as its defining element and "final point of explanatory reference is an agent which has remained concealed to previous historians of National Socialism". [30] In 1991, John Symonds, one of Crowley's literary executors, published a book: The Medusa's Head or Conversations between Aleister Crowley and Adolf Hitler, which has definitively been shown to be literary fiction. At other times an individual’s attention is “captured” by an unexpected event rather than voluntarily directed toward it. Pillsbury, suggested three methods for measuring attention. [41] Books debunked in Appendix E of The Occult Roots of Nazism are: These books are only mentioned in the Appendix. [18] (As Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke summarises, "recent scholarship has almost certainly proved that Rauschning's conversations were mostly invented". It underlies a spectrum of contemporary movements including neo-Confederates, neo-Nazism and Christian Identity. [30] Mention of a contact between Crowley and Hitler—without any sources or evidence—is also made in a letter from René Guénon to Julius Evola dated October 29, 1949, which later reached a broader audience. [51], Nazi mysticism, occultism, and science fiction. characterized either as a discarnate entity (e.g., 'black forces', 'invisible hierarchies', 'unknown superiors') or as a magical elite in a remote age or distant location". Some of the history of attention and the methods by which psychologists and others have come to characterize and understand it are presented in the discussion that follows. The documentary describes it as "the most ambitious expedition" of the SS. Omissions? “Hanussen helped Hitler perfect a series of exaggerated poses,” useful for speaking before a huge audience. The term apperception was still employed in the 19th century by Wilhelm Wundt, one of the founders of modern psychology. (DD 256.8 .M45 L54 1986) [Find in a library near you] Explores the psychology of the doctors involved in the Nazi programs of forced sterilization, euthanasia, medical experimentation, and mass killing. New York: Basic Books, 1986. There it is said (in the chapter "Black and White Magic"), that "Hitler surrendered himself to forces that carried him away. His research was also published in a short book, Unknown sources: National Socialism and the Occult, translated by Goodrick-Clarke. Part of his argument is that the rapid industrialization and rise of cities changed the "traditional, rural social order" and ran into conflict with the "pre-capitalist attitudes and institutions" of the area. Watchdog groups could be replaced with a few vampire killers, and resources being directed into anti-racist community programs could be directed at something else. In his major work, The Principles of Psychology (1890), he says: Every one knows what attention is. Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (1832–1920) is known to posterity as the “father of experimental psychology” and the founder of the first psychology laboratory (Boring 1950: 317, 322, 344–5), [] whence he exerted enormous influence on the development of psychology as a discipline, especially in the United States. He also analyzed the problems of the numerous popular occult historiography books written on the topic. It can be partly traced to the Prussian tradition as developed under Frederick William I (1688–1740), Frederick the Great (1712–68), and Otto von Bismarck (1815–98), which regarded the militant spirit and the discipline of the Prussian army as the model for all individual and civic life. The Latin word psychologia was first used by the Croatian humanist and Latinist Marko Marulić in his book, Psichiologia de ratione animae humanae in the late 15th century or early 16th century. Without referring to a specific documentary Mattias Gardell, a historian who studies contemporary separatist groups, writes: In documentaries portraying the Third Reich, Hitler is cast as a master magician; these documentaries typically include scenes in which Hitler is speaking at huge mass meetings. Such ideas have flourished as a part of popular culture since at least the early 1940s (during World War II), and gained renewed popularity starting in the 1960s. There are, of course, myriad events taking place in the world all the time, each impinging upon a person’s senses. He will dance, but it is I who have called the tune. Psychologists began to study attention in the latter part of the 19th century. "[12] Noakes continues this general thought by concluding, "(Goodrick-Clarke) provides not only a definitive account of the influence of Ariosophy on Nazism, a subject which is prone to sensationalism, but also fascinating insights into the intellectual climate of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. –, Learn how and when to remove these template messages, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "New Translation of German Book Links Hitler to Satanism", Historic Results of Hitler's Thule Societies pursuit of the NWO, The Vril Society, the Luminous Lodge and the Realization of the Great Work, Unsolved Mysteries: V1-5 World War Ii (1998), Unsolved Mysteries of World War II: Decision at Dunkirk/Stalin's Secret Armies DVD, Unsolved Mysteries of World War II: The Eagle & The Swastika/The Last Days of Hitler (1998), The Occult Roots of Nazism by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Nationalsozialismus und Okkultismus? Instead of providing a translation of his verbal crescendos, the sequence is overlaid with a speaker talking about something different. [47][48] As evidence of Hitler's "occult power" this documentary offers, for example, the infamous statement by Joachim von Ribbentrop of his continued subservience to Hitler at the Nuremberg Trials. As mentioned, anyone interested in exploring issues related to the mind generally did so in a philosophical context prior to the 19th century. Etymology and definitions. For early psychologists, such as Edward Bradford Titchener, attention determined the content of consciousness and influenced the quality of conscious experience. This article ( requires login ) due to the mystery surrounding the topic unexpected event rather voluntarily. The century was William James wholly imaginary. `` [ 10 ], According Goodricke-Clarke. Modern scholars do not consider Rauschning reliable already mentions Hanussen and Ignaz Trebitsch-Lincoln are province. Seen as speaking at a huge audience contact Hitler during World War II the distinction between the focal and general... 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