Inside the Minds of Monsters: What Nuremberg Taught Us About Today

In 1945, U.S. Army psychiatrist Dr. Douglas Kelley arrived at Nuremberg with an hypothesis: the 22 top Nazi defendants, including Hermann Göring, the second most powerful man of the Third Reich, must share a unique psychosis. He was looking for a "Nazi mind virus" that could explain the Holocaust. As Jack El-Hai, author of The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, of which the new film, Nuremberg, starring Russell Crowe as Göring, is based, reveals in this week's Gaslit Nation, Dr. Kelley found something far more terrifying. There was no insanity. These men were clinically "normal." They were ambitious, hardworking, Type-A opportunists: the kind you might find in any corporate boardroom today. What made them willing to destroy half the population to rule the other half? Even Hitler, Dr. Kelley concluded, wasn't a "madman" but a paranoid hypochondriac whose fear of early death rushed him into strategic failures like the invasion of the Soviet Union. This finding is a warning for us now. If Nazism isn't a disease but a human choice, it can take root anywhere. El-Hai points to the "sophisticated propaganda" and the evolution of ICE tactics in Minneapolis, where he and his family live, as modern terror of the early Gestapo. How do we bring Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, and their lawless killers to justice in our own Nuremberg trials? We stop waiting for a savior. We document the abuses, we protect the vote, and as El-Hai urges, we "get in where we fit in" during this time of self-defense resistance. This essential history is a reminder that the face of evil is often disturbingly ordinary.  Join our community of listeners and get bonus shows, ad free listening, group chats with other listeners, ways to shape the show, invites to exclusive events like our Monday political salons at 4pm ET over Zoom, and more! Discounted annual memberships are available. Become a Democracy Defender at Patreon.com/Gaslit EVENTS AT GASLIT NATION: The Gaslit Nation Outreach Committee discusses how to talk to the MAGA cult: join on Patreon.  Minnesota Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other: join on Patreon.  Vermont Signal group for Gaslit Nation listeners in the state to find each other: join on Patreon. Arizona-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to connect: join on Patreon.  Indiana-based listeners launched a Signal group for others in the state to join: join on Patreon.  Florida-based listeners are going strong meeting in person. Be sure to join their Signal group: join on Patreon.