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| Dr Robert Jay Lifton |
THE NAZI DOCTORS:
Medical
Killing and
the
Psychology
of Genocide © |
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333 |
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| “A Human Being in an SS
Uniform”: Ernst B. |
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where they were so hated. Dr. B. commented that the Germans
and the Jews were now the two most hated peoples in the world. While none of
this was overtly anti-Jewish, it was consistent with the earlier German
attitude of viewing the Jews as “the problem.” What both of them said
was also probably related to their impression that I was Jewish. If so, her
meaning was probably something like: “Why don't you help your fellow Jews
— who are still the most hated of peoples and therefore need the help
— and leave my husband alone?” While we cannot identify Dr. B’s
views precisely with those of his wife — she had always been more
anti-Nazi than he — his words at the time suggested agreement and were
also consistent with tendencies we have observed in him of blaming the victim.
The suspicion that I was a Jew could also have contributed both to his
intensity in seeking an accommodation with me during the interviews and to his
reactive ambivalence once he had done so. And it could have contributed as well
to his wife’s worries.
Dr. B.’s attitudes toward Jews
included espousal of “understanding,” if not sympathy, for advocacy
of the Final Solution, as well as for the Nazi polarity of National-Socialist
“world blessing” and Jewish “ultimate evil.” Those
draconian attitudes were intrinsic to the Nazi context he shared, but were much
less operative in him than was his capacity to respond humanely to individual
Jews. Whatever these conflicts and contradictions, this capacity, when
expressed in an institution whose purpose was the annihilation of Jews, was
exemplary and, for many, life-sustaining. |
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| Dr. B.’s Postwar Self |
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An important part of B.’s post-Auschwitz self and
worldview is his unfinished business with Auschwitz. His conflicting needs are
both to continue to explore his Auschwitz experience and to avoid coming to
grips with its moral significance. His insistence that Auschwitz was not
understandable serves the psychological function of rejecting any coherent
explanation or narrative for the events in which he was involved. He thus
remains stuck in an odd post-traumatic pattern: unable either to absorb (by
finding narrative and meaning) or to free himself from Auschwitz images.
Yet he does require psychological maneuvers to fend off the extremity
of Auschwitz evil. One of these is equating Auschwitz with other collective
examples of hypocrisy and failed ideals, such as the schizophrenic situation of
the Christian church in doing “things that had nothing to do with
‘love thy neighbor.’” Auschwitz is thereby reduced to something
historically ordinary, and he is enabled to acknowledge a little more of his
Auschwitz self.
His language and style of discussion during the
interviews was consistent with that kind of maneuver, especially in its
exclusion of the moral domain. While intelligent and articulate, he avoided
almost completely |
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THE NAZI DOCTORS:
Medical Killing and the
Psychology of
Genocide
Robert J. Lifton
ISBN 0-465-09094
©
1986 |
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