Gustave Gilbert | |
|---|---|
 Gilbertc. 1950 | |
| Born | Gustave Mark Gilbert (1911-09-30)September 30, 1911 New York City, US |
| Died | February 6, 1977(1977-02-06) (aged 65) |
| Spouse | Matilda Gilbert |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Columbia University |
| Thesis | Dynamic Psychophysics and the Phi Phenomenon[1] (1939) |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Psychology |
| Institutions | |
| Notable works |
|
| Military career | |
| Branch | United States Army |
| Rank | Captain |
Gustave Mark Gilbert (September 30, 1911 – February 6, 1977) was an Americanpsychologist best known for his writings containing observations of high-rankingNazi leaders during theNuremberg trials. His 1950 bookThe Psychology of Dictatorship was an attempt to profile the Nazi German dictatorAdolf Hitler using as reference the testimonials of Hitler's closest generals and commanders. Gilbert's published work is still a subject of study in many universities and colleges, especially in the field of psychology.
Gilbert was born in the state ofNew York in 1911, the son of Jewish-Austrian immigrants. He won a scholarship from theSchool for Ethical Culture at the College Town Center in New York. He attended theCity College of New York where he majored in German before switching to psychology. In 1939, Gilbert obtained his PhD degree in psychology fromColumbia University. Gilbert also held a diploma from theAmerican Board of Examiners in professional psychology.
During World War II, Gilbert wascommissioned with the rank ofFirst Lieutenant.[2] Because of his knowledge of German, he was sent overseas as a translator.[2]
In 1945, after the end of the war, Gilbert was sent toNuremberg, Germany, as a translator for theInternational Military Tribunal for the trials of the World War II German prisoners. Gilbert was appointed the prison psychologist of the German prisoners. During the process of the trials Gilbert became, afterDouglas Kelley,[3] the confidant ofHermann Göring,Joachim von Ribbentrop,Wilhelm Keitel,Hans Frank,Oswald Pohl,Otto Ohlendorf,Rudolf Höss, andErnst Kaltenbrunner, among others. Gilbert and Kelley administered theRorschach inkblot test to the 22 defendants in the Nazi leadership group prior to the first set of trials.[4] Gilbert also participated in theNuremberg trials as the American Military Chief Psychologist and provided testimony attesting to the sanity ofRudolf Hess.
Gilbert also administeredIQ tests to the Nazi leadership.Hjalmar Schacht scored highest with 143 points, followed byArthur Seyss-Inquart and Göring.Julius Streicher scored lowest with 106 points.[5][6]
In 1946, after the trials, Gilbert returned to the US. Gilbert stayed busy teaching, researching, and writing. In 1947 he published part of his diary, consisting of observations taken during interviews, interrogations, "eavesdropping" and conversations with German prisoners, under the titleNuremberg Diary. (This diary was reprinted in full in 1961 just before the trial ofAdolf Eichmann inJerusalem.)
The following is a famous exchange Gilbert had with Göring from this book:
Göring: Why, of course, thepeople don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is theleaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.
Gilbert: There is one difference. In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States onlyCongress can declare wars.
Göring: Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce thepacifists for lack ofpatriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.
In 1948, as Head Psychologist at the Veterans Hospital at Lyons, NJ, Gilbert treated veterans of World Wars I and II who had sufferednervous breakdowns.
In 1950, Gilbert publishedThe Psychology of Dictatorship: Based on an Examination of the Leaders of Nazi Germany. In this book, Gilbert made an attempt to portray a profile of the psychological behavior ofAdolf Hitler, based ondeductive work from eyewitness reports from Hitler's commanders in prison in Nuremberg.
In September 1954, while he was an Associate Professor of Psychology atMichigan State College, Gilbert attended the 62nd Annual Convention of theAmerican Psychological Association in New York. Gilbert was part of a four-person panel discussing "Psychological Approaches to the Problem of Anti-Intellectualism."
In 1961, when he was the chairman of the psychology department ofLong Island University inBrooklyn, Gilbert was summoned to testify in the trial ofAdolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. Gilbert testified on May 29, 1961, describing how bothErnst Kaltenbrunner andRudolf Höss tried in their conversations with him to put the responsibility for theextermination of the Jews on each other's doorstep. Nevertheless, Eichmann appeared in the accounts of both men. Then he presented a document, handwritten by Höss, that surveys the process of extermination atAuschwitz and different sums of people gassed there – under Höss as commandant and according to an oral report by Eichmann. The court decided not to accept Gilbert's psychological analyses of the prisoners at Nuremberg as part of his testimony.[7]
In 1967, Gilbert convinced Leon Pomeroy, then a recent graduate fromUniversity of Texas at Austin, to build a clinical doctoral program in the field of psychology at Long Island University. At the time, Gilbert was serving as chairman of the psychology department of Long Island University inBrooklyn, New York.
Gilbert died on 6 February 1977.[8]
Gustave Gilbert has been portrayed by the following actors in film, television and theater productions;[9]
Also, the character "Abe Fields" inMichael Koehlmeier's 2008 bookAbendland ("Occident") who is based on Gustave Gilbert (see the interview with the author[10] in the Austrian paperDer Falter of 15. 8. 2007). In the book, Abe Fields sits in on the trials as psychologist and speaks to the defendants.
