A Critique: Is Germany Incurable?

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Is Germany Incurable?
Richard M. Brickner, M.D.
1943, J. B. Lippincott Company.

A Critique by Terry Bohannon
Written: April 9, 2001
Introduction to Psychology

In Richard M. Brickner's book, Is Germany Incurable?, he is taking a stab at explaining the reasons behind the abhorrent acts that the German Nazi's did. For example, one of these evil acts are as follows. In 1943, the International Red Cross found mass graves containing the bodies of 4,231 Polish officers with bullets in the back of their heads. They found out that during the takeover of Poland, the German Schutz Staffeln (SS) 'invited' polish officers into a special room that had rubber walls, seats, and floors. Once the Polish officer sat in the only seat, a SS officer would walk behind him, then shoot him in the back of his head.

This book was written to show that the cause of such abhorrent actions like the prior example, and the best known, the holocaust, were caused by the paranoia of Germany as a group.

In the first chapter, Dr. Brickner introduces how he explains the German 'aggression' that has been displayed for thousands of years (35). He says that the "Massive evidence summarized in this book shows that the national group we call Germany behaves and has long behaved startlingly like an individual involved in a dangerous mental trend. . . . Clinical experience can identify the specific condition that Germany's mental trend approaches. It is paranoia" (30).

Also, he concludes this chapter with the following; "We must recognize Germany's brilliant organization for what it is: the product of a feverish paranoid drive, an irrational thirst for power, that we must check or succumb to" (44).

In this chapter, Dr. Bricker gives a brief historical outline showing the progress that psychiatrist have made. Going from the idea that "'Madness' was a punishment from heaven for which treatment was futile," (47) to the point when he was writing his book. Up to the mid 1940's, psychiatrist have been probing into the reasons behind the behavior of others for about three generations. They were also devising treatments for these problems (48). He also describes paranoia as "the real murder-psychosis" (56).

Here, he concludes with: "when, as in Germany, such thinking dominates the behavior of a large and powerful group of people, it becomes a universal danger. In order to understand the nature of the danger, it is necessary to describe in some detail the nature of paranoia and its effect on the behavior of individuals" (58).

Dr. Brickner dedicates this chapter to explain why the paranoid is dangerous. "Several major characteristics compose the paranoid character. The first is the need to dominate. . . . A second characteristic is suspiciousness. . . . A third paranoid characteristic is an exaggeratedly high opinion of one's own importance (megalomania). . . . A fourth characteristic of paranoids is false rumination over past events" (61-63).

In this chapter, Dr. Bricker give an example of one of the paranoia cases that he has encountered in his clinical work. His example is of Jim D. and Ann M.. After they first got married, Ann became very angry over the fact that she has lost her social life because Jim D. doesn't party enough for her. She then 'forced' him to attend different social events. In which, if Jim ever looked or talked to another woman, Ann would act out and accuse Jim of adultery. These events finally conclude that Jim "could no longer concentrate on his work. He lost sleep, appetite, weight, all self-confidence." He thought he was to blame for all his wife's accusations, so he finally went to see a psychiatrist. Dr. Brickner uses this case to show the effect the paranoid has on his victim. In this case, Jim complied with Ann's demands to the extent to where he couldn't possibly meet her demands, and then felt that he was at fault (76-85).

Richard Brickner says that we all have paranoid tendencies, and that these "tendencies may be stimulated and whipped into action" (93).

Dr. Brickner in this chapter writes that "A useful metaphor for this phenomenon, which has often been observed but never accurately described, is 'paranoid contagion.' The word contagion thus means no that paranoid thinking is a disease lime measles that can be caught from another person, but that it is an inflammable potentiality that can be easily ignited" (93).

Dr. Brickner states that paranoia is caused not by heredity, but environment (100). The treatment that he explains used for paranoia cases is to show the patient that he is off track, and why. The psychiatrist then teaches the patient how to control his paranoid urges (102-103). He writes that "There is no short-cut to this long, tedious process of reeducation, inevitably punctuated by frequent setbacks" (103).

He also makes the claim that "what applies to individual paranoia should apply equally to group paranoia" (103).

In this chapter, Dr. Brickner starts off by defining the group. "[G]roup means a number of individuals or objects that share certain identifiable characteristics: all the component elements have in common the possession of telephones or a belief in spiritualism or attach a special emotional significance to blond hair in females" (112).

The "German culture has developed a set of densely paranoid values" (117). Later in the book, Dr. Brickner further develops this claim.

In this chapter, Dr. Brickner uses two examples of cultures that has been studied by the anthropologist Margaret Mead. The first example is the Zuñi Indians of our own Southwest. "Any Zuñi who shows conspicuous ability at leadership in community activities is likely to be suspected of practicing witchcraft and get strung up by the thumbs until he confesses" (128). The second example is of the Kwakiutl Indians on the northwest Pacific coast. These Indians have developed self aggrandizing values to an extraordinary degree, Dr. Brickner describes the cultural behavior as 'unabashed megalomania' (129). Dr. Brickner uses these two cultures to prove that Paranoia can exist in cultures.

The "German Enigma" is the quarks of behavior in Germany as a group. An example that shows this is the voting behavior of Germans. "By 1924 three of the parties, including the Nazis, were gathering 1,900,000 votes for their extremist programs. . . . Even a weird character named Louis Hausser, addicted to the slogan 'Who loves his Fatherland better than the axe, vote Hasserbund'" (149). He further explains that "this habit of mind has been identified by Germans themselves. Nietzsche deprecated it as the German 'revolt against reason.' Alfred Rosenberg, the Nazi philosopher, glorified it as thinking with the 'subconscious blood' -a mystical procedure which only 'racially pure' Germans are qualified to perform" (149).

By 1889, Nietzsche had grown so fearful of the effects of Germany's coming 'barbarism' that this fierce opponent of Christianity wrote the Pope, begging him to sponsor some sort of league of nations to save civilization from the threat" (156). Dr. Brickner uses this to show that the paranoia that lead to Nazism was historically based.

The first symptom that he describes is megalomania. "This trait arises from the paranoid's conviction of his own a priori world-shaking importance, of the supreme value and significance of his every act and thought" (163). This trait can be shown in Hitler's beliefs that the Nordic race has a right to dominate the world. Also, "The paranoid's feeling that God and Destiny attend his every move and are supporting any special mission upon which he feels impelled to embark, has often been expressed by Hitler: "I am certain that my name will never be forgotten as that of a great man of this country. I believe it was the will of God-the will of the Supreme Power was fulfilled through me" (169).

The second symptom that Dr. Brickner describes is "[t]he need to Dominate everybody with whom he comes in contact, to control every situation in which he finds himself, as a means towards putting into concrete terms this superiority he knows he possess, is part and parcel of the paranoid's megalomania"(175). To prove his point, Dr. Brickner uses examples from history. In 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II, said that "Remember that you are the chosen people! The spirit of the Lord has descended upon me, because I am Emperor of the Germans! I am the instrument of the Most High. I am His sword, His representative. Woe and death to all those who resist my will! Woe and death to those who do not believe in my mission! Woe and death to the cowards! May all the enemies of the German people perish! God demands their destruction, God, who through my mouth, commands you to execute His will" (181). After Wilhelm's mission (WWI) failed, German citizens hungered for a new instrument of the Most High.

The third symptom is the Persecution Complex and Projection. This symptom sprouts from megalomania. "Because he himself is so important, he is obviously destined to rule others who are less important. Because of his superiority and potential power are so unmistakable in his eyes, he feels nobody could miss them. All other people are naturally consumed with jealously of him and hostility toward the inevitable consummation of his supremacy" (183). An example of the persecution complex is when "Hitler expressed this attitude magnificently in a statement after the blood-purge of 1934. Speaking of private meetings among his victims that his under cover men had reported, he said he would have such men shot, even if it should turn out that they had discussed 'nothing but ancient coins or the weather.' The very fact that something should go on without his knowledge is intolerable to the paranoid" (184). Dr. Brickner later describes how Germans felt that the surrounding countries were encircling them. He quotes a German diplomat in 1807 saying "If anybody thinks we are living in the best of worlds, we have to tell him that, since 1871, Germany has never been in a worse position. One thing is sure: we are encircled!" (190)

Retrospective Falsification is the last major symptom that Dr. Brickner describes. Dr. Brickner shows how the Nazi's bent history. "Nearly every speech of Hitler's leads off with a long period of blustering instruction for the world in the past history of Germany. The general theme is that Germany has never been defeated in a war" (195). That includes the First World War. The Nazi government, to enforce 'all Jews are cowards,' said that the fact that so many German Jews were decorated for valor during WWI was because they bought it from the needy widow of an "Aryan" hero for a shamefully small sum and that all such certificates were forgeries (196-7).

In this chapter, Dr. Brickner explains the German love for war. The nationalist movement used paranoid vocabulary to glorify the war. "In 1924, an intellectual disciple of Count zu Rezentlow said in a speech: "War is not merely the means to an end. War is the end in itself. War is, has been and always will be the chief German Occupation" (206).

Dr. Brinkner goes on to say that German artist, musicians and writers were repudiated because they were not men of war (210).

In World War I, the German solders, often sang Hassgesang (Hymn of Hate Against England). "You will we hate with a lasting hate; We will never forego our hate" (213). Dr. Brickner uses this to show the immense hatred the Germans had for the English.

Dr. Brickner goes on to show that the German war cult was such that criticism could not be endured. He gives an example of "Captain Paasche, as a non-paranoid German, felt impelled to tell his fellow countrymen why, in his opinion, they had lost their African colonies. In Das verlorene Afrika (The Lost Africa), published in 1919, he did just that." After his book was published, a mob of Nationalist "set upon and murdered him on his own estate" (214-5).

Dr. Brickner makes the claim that "The paranoid rationalization involved can be summarized as follows: whatever is German must succeed: therefore, whatever succeeds must be German" (216-7). He goes on an notes some examples of this rationalization. One example is when "the Chief of the German Reich Chancellery, had 'proved' that Napoleon came of good German stock" (216).

Dr. Brickner explains the anti-Semitism that was prevalent at that time. "The new attitude towards Jews could be boiled down into a two-line jingle:

He goes on to explain that "there are several good paranoid reasons for German hatred of Jews. The first is projection. . . . The second reason is that the numerically insignificant Jews- five hundred thousand among sixty million Germans at the time Hitler came to power" (229-230). Dr. Brickner writes that "the systematic butchery of the Jews now in progress is merely the end-product of that kind of thinking" (231).

In this chapter, Dr. Brickner concludes that even if there were none of people that the Germans persecuted in WWII, the Germans would have been driven to invent such a group, and crush them for the 'protection' of the rest of the population (232).

This chapter is dedicated to proving that the German paranoia is embedded in everyday life. He starts this chapter by making the claim that "every German child is born into a world saturated with powerful paranoid trends" (233). One of the examples he used to prove this was how children were taught in school. A German, recalling his schooling in Germany said, "It went without saying that the teacher was always right because the teacher was a Beamter (government official). . . . The teacher cannot be unjust, he has taken an oath" (254). Also, the same German said that he did not know that the war of the roses was between the French and British, he was always taught that the Germans were in the mist of it. Dr. Brickner later explains that "the German student must follow the typical curriculum. In it was abundantly contained every symptom of paranoia in a form that the German schoolboy had either to adopt or to defy at the cost of being socially ostracized" (260).

Dr. Brickner answers the questions "Aren't the Germans just being hoodwinked by the Nazis into outrageous behavior? But why can't you do business with Hitler if you handle him right?" with the following:

"Since the Nazis constitute a classic cause, suspiciousness and projection of paranoid modes of thinking on to other groups plays an important role in Nazi behavior." An example he uses is when "young Nazi prisoners are telling their Russian captors that Norway had to be conquered because the English were on the point of taking it over; that the Czechs had to be extinguished because they were on the point of stabbing Germany treacherously in the back; and all the other projection-fictions that were manifesting a paranoid hyper-suspicion that was used to explain each successive act of aggression" (271-2).

In this chapter, Dr. Brickner shows how the Paranoid Nazis affected the world scene. One example was when all over the world whole chunks of pure Nazi propaganda on racial and international matters was being written by paranoid leaders dreaming of power and glory (287). An example of a paranoid German movement within America was the Association for Germanism Abroad, their purpose was to rally round the Führer. There were cases of this group sabotaging the war effort here and lending of aid and comfort to the enemy (290). Since the paranoia in Germany had such outstretched arms and harms countries other than itself, it would be futile for a country to have an isolationist mindset.

Dr. Brickner explains that the cure for the German paranoia is similar to how we treat the individual patient. Because we as a society must not let Germany get into the same situation it was after the Treaty of Versailles, to where the German paranoia was not cured and was still running rampant, only to gain power a generation after World War I.

Since this book was written during World War II, we have to account for the very strong emotions held against the Germans. As I read this book, doubt that paranoia existed in Germany on the wide scale that Dr. Brickner showed. For example, in World War I, many Germans where honorable solders including the following example of Ernst Jünger.

Ernst Jünger was a lieutenant in the 73rd Hanoverian Fusilier Regiment. He kept a log of the events in his experience with World War I. In his book, Storm of Steel, Ernst Jünger writes that "It has always been my ideal in war to eliminate all feeling of hatred and to treat my enemy as an enemy only in battle and to honour him as a man according to his courage."[i] If Ernst Jünger was a paranoid, he would have absolute hatred of his enemies.

From looking at this book historically, I do believe that there was paranoia. Although, I think that it was caused by the environmental factors sprouting from the leadership of Germany. Take Hitler for example, when he spoke, he used such passion that the majority of the Germans that heard him accepted what he was saying then followed that through and did what he wanted.

If Germany did not have such irrational leaders that devised fear and misinformation into the public that lead to the cult movement of Nazism, would there have been World War II?