The Nazi and the Psychiatrist
Herman Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the end of WWII
2013 . Cedar Mill . 341.69 El-Hai . 281 pages
- 22 Cells in Nuremberg: In the Nazi Mind by Douglas M. Kelley. 17.73 Amazon
p012 . Roehm Putsch of 1934
p013 . Hermann Göring Carinhall
- tame lions, stolen art
- survived war because Hitler's execution order was not confirmed in writing
p014 . Göring's "heart medicine" was narcotic paracodeine
- p015 . 40 pills per day, narcotic effect of 520 mg of morphine (65 mg anesthetizes average person)
p024 . Douglas Kelley wrote "... We must learn the why of the Nazi success so we can take steps to prevent the recurrence of such evil."
p024 . Kelley's mother June McGlashan, wealthy family near Truckee and Lake Tahoe
p025 . The Rocking Stone Tower 16 ton balanced boulder
p026 . artifacts of 1846-47 Donner Party cannibal winter 48 of 87 survived
Kelley's maternal grandfather Charles McGlashan wrote History of the Donner Party
p026 . Lewis Keseberg survivor
- p028 . Kelley's mother June married Truckee dentist George "Doc" Kelley in 1909
- p028 . Son Douglas (book's protagonist) born 1912 August 11 in Truckee, family moved to San Francisco in 1919
p032 . Rorschach test
p033 . Douglas Kelley and Bruno Klopfer wrote The Rorschach Technique in 1942
p033 . Alfred Korzybski Science and Sanity 1933 General semantics
- p034 . Skilled debater listens carefully to understand compulsions of adversary
- p035 . Kelley taught patients to perform magic tricks, claiming theraputic effectiveness
p036 . Kelley used sodium amytal "truth serum" on resistant patients
- p038 . 1.6M WW1 soldiers psychiatric wounded
- p038 . 1,1M WW2 US disabled by psychiatric traumas
- p039 . many soldiers were psychopath, psychotic, or mentally defective and should not have been admitted
- p050 . Kelley at Nuremberg Prison 1945
p050 . Baldur von Schirach 38yo and Konstantin von Neurath 72y
- p050 . Kelley self-appointed mission to understand Nazi mind
- p052 . prisoners emotionally abusived, kept separate
- p054 . Allied interrogators questioned prisoners away from their cells
- (KL: presumably so other prisoners couldn't hear the interrogations and answers)
- p056 . Kelley: Göring complained less and accepted prison routine better than others
- p060 . racial superiority? Goering:"nobody believes that rot ... it was good propaganda".
- p060 . Kelley concluded "... complete lack of moral value"
- p068 . Kelley curious why Nazi leaders did horrible things
p068 . Cesare Lombroso Anthropological criminology and psychology
- p068 . criminals impulsive, immature, affection deprived, lacked restraint, verified by later studies
p069 .Is Germany Incurable? 1943 book by psychiatrist Richard M. Brickner, PSU Basement DD76.B73
- p071 . Kelley psychiatrically measured Nuremberg "patients", Rorschach etc.
- p071 . Nuremberg prison "a psychiatrist's playground"
p074 . Translator Sergeant Howard Triest, family members killed in Auschwitz
- p075 . Göring most self-centered person in Kelley's experience
- p075 . German no-men were killed
p075 . Hervey Cleckley The Mask of Sanity cited
p076 . Night of the Long Knives, Göring had Röhm killed
- p076 . Kelley (unaware?) of psychopath narcissism
p080 . Göring asked Kelley to adopt his daughter Edda if both parents died
p082 . Göring chosen as Hitler's successor because Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess chose drab furniture
- p083 . Hess paranoid in prison, feigned amnesia, feared poisoning
- p086 . Hess suicide in prison 1987 age 93
p088 . Streicher cordial with "perfect Nordic" translator Howard Triest
- p092 . Hess read two books a day in prison
p093 . Hitler's physician Karl Brandt ran Aktion T4 involuntary euthanasia program, executed 1948
- may have given Kelley 1944 X-ray images of Hitler's skull
p099 . Robert Ley suicide in Nuremberg prison 25 October 1945
p101 . Rudolf Hess: "I do not like to be tried with Göring", returned to Edgar Wallace novel
p103 . Gustave Mark Gilbert another psychologist for prisoners
p104 . social psychology, not clinical
- p105 . defendant interview notes afterwards in personal diary
- p106 . None of the Nazi defendants could actually identify a Jewish person
p108 . neuropathologist Webb Haymaker found degeneration in Ley's brain, second opinion disagreed
- p109 . Gilbert labelled Göring smart, cynical, depressed, and depraved but no genius
p110 . banker Hjalmar Schacht IQ 143 top of group, Göring 138, Hess 120, Julius Streicher 106
- p111 . Gilbert: IQ ... intellectual efficiency, not character, morals, or personality
p112 . Hans Fritzsche propaganda minister
p117 . Donald Ewen Cameron notorious experiments for the CIA
- p119 . Hess claimed illness diagnoses from pupil changes
p120 . Ernst Kaltenbrunner highest ranking SS in prison, suicidal crybaby, Subarachnoid hemorrhage in prison
p120 . Subarachnoid hemorrhage in prison
- p120 . Kelley took books from a university library, imprisoned authors autographed them
p121 . prosecutor William Donovan read Kelley's disclosures about prisoner's defense strategies
p121 . Jodl's defense, duty to follow military orders
p122 . Hans Frank accepted guilt pretrial, criticized others who didn't
- p123 . weird Göring nattering
- p140 . Göring shunned by other prisoners at lunchtime
p140 . called them Schweinehund und veraeter, Pig-dog and traitor
- p141 . Kelley not interested in trial outcome, he was there to dissect (prisoner) minds.
- p142 . Göring wept when Kelley left the prison
p143 . Kelley replaced by Leon Goldensohn 1946 January who was prison psychiatrist until July 1946
Leon Goldensohn's book: The Nuremberg Interviews: An American Psychiatrist’s Conversations with the Defendants and Witnesses
- Forest Grove Library 341.69 GOL
- p146 . Defendants' group solidarity collapsed, Göring maligned other defendants and other staff
- p146 . bloodstained Gloucester ... King Lear?
- p148 . Göring refused visits and testimony from wife Emmy and other relatives
p149 . Franz von Papen
- p151 . Göring suicide with hidden ampule of potassium cyanide 1946 October 15
p153 . Bodies incinerated in Dachau ovens says book
Ostfriedhof (Munich) according to Wikipedia, which is 20 km from Dachau
- ashes dumped in Isar river, which runs through Munich
- p156 . Kelley brought home "mountains" of documents and artifacts from Nuremberg
- p157 . besides brain-damaged Ley, all top Nazis were capable of distinguishing right from wrong
- p158 . Kelley concluded MANY people were potential war criminals
- p158 . Hitler exploited existing minds, thinking emotionally, with thalamus, not cortexc
- p159 . Göring and colleagues workaholics, long hours, little sleep.
- p159 . Göring: Hitler was a normal man
- p160 . Hitler fear of stomach cancer and imminent demise led to attack of Soviet Union
- p160 . Hitler: "No one but a weakling or a fool ever would commit suicide"
- p161 . tremor, weakness of left hand and leg diagnosed as hysterical
- p161 . Hitler neurotic and obsessive but not psychotic or mad
- p162 . Nazis stidied by Kelley believed they were the course of human evolution
- p162 . Kelley: There are people in America who would kill half to control the other half
p163 . Kelley: Eugene Talmadge -1946 and John E. Rankin -1960 and Theodore Bilbo -1947 exploit(ed) racial myths like Hitler
- p163 . Americans should scrutinize ... to avoid the sad fate of the Germans
p165 . 22 Cells in Nuremburg
p165 . Kelley associate professor of psychology at Wake Forest (Bowman Gray) School of Medicine in North Carolina
p165 . Graylyn 35 bed psychiatric rehabilitation and convalescent center 1947
p167 . Kelley advocated Antabuse (Dosulfiram)
p168 . 1943 recapture of Aleutian islands Attu and Kiska from the Japanese
p168 . insulin therapy
- p170 . Kelley 46 lectures 1947-1949: Nuremberg, horizons in psychiatry, neurology talk to magician's convention
- p172 . Nuremberg book finally published in 1947
p175 . Lewis M. Terman review of 22 cells in Nuremberg Psychological Bulletin 44(5):p 483-484, September 1947.
- p175 . Kelley received detailed professional comments on Nuremberg Rorschach test results, but never published them
- p177 . Kelley's criminology studies risked exposing his deepest fears
p177 . Kelley's narco-hypnotic drugs sodium pentothal and sodium amytal replaced with Somnoform
- gas took effect in 90 seconds and lasted 10 minutes
- p178 . Kelley claimed drugs could elicit confessions ... though people can lie
- p179 . Berkeley offered Kelley full professorship in criminology fall 1949
- p179 . children Doug 1947, Alicia 1951, Allen 1953. Dukie inherited $400K ($6M in 2026 dollars)
- p181 . UCB salary $9K/y, $126K/y in 2026 dollars
- p181 . dramatic teacher, course title "The Detection of Deception"
p183 . UCB colleague Paul L. Kirk
p183 . Samuel Sheppard murder conviction 1955, exonerated by US Supreme Court 1966
- p184 . Kelley psychiatric evaluation of candidates for Berkeley police department
- p185 . Kelley found a lot of wrong with the human conditionphysician Harry Borson
- p187 . Burbank Junior High 1222 University Avenue a few blocks (10 long blocks, 2 miles) from the UC campus
- 14yo Stephanie Bryan disappears 1955, 27yo Burton Abbott accused
- p188 . evidence found in Abbott's basement, grilled by Kelley, convicted 1956, executed 1957
p188 . Kelley consulted for 1954 film Rebel Without a Cause
- p191 . Kelley had two handguns and ammunition from the Berkeley Police, high quality locks on windows
- p192 . Kelley spent his income, Dukie wanted to save instead.
- p192 . striking house on Highgate road in Kensington, view of Alcatraz
- p194 . TV chair, boxing matches, beer
- p195 . often cooked challenging meals
p197 . risky driver, anger in family time -> "painful ember in his soul"
- p197 . Kelley's mother June embittered, reared him never to feel satisfied
- p198 . still upset that Nuremberg criminals not mentally ill or a "psychiatric type"
- p198 . Dukie did her best, and Kelly knew that
- p199 . argued in front of children
- p199 . Dukie's father upset by her treatment, died of a stroke, blamed Kelley
p199 . unlike sunny novels of Clarence Day Life with Father 1935 at PSU Lib, online
- p201 . son Doug tested and pushed continually
- p202 . adolescent Doug rejected father's teaching, drank and smoked pot age 11
- p203 . Kelley did not show love to his children
- p204 . Dukie told Doug that Kelley refused to seek help
- p204 . "too prestigious" to be caught seeing a psychiatrist
- p205 . Warned by Lewis Terman, physician Harry Borson, friend George Dreher
- p206 . "I don't have to take this any more!"
p206 . Douglas Kelley Cyanide 1958 January 1, age 45
- p208 . Berkeley Gazette: "Dr. Kelley once said that the professional life of a psychiatrist was about 15 years -- after that he either went crazy or committed suicide." really?
- p213 . Dukie sold many exotic belongings ... oil refinery model kit .. but kept records, notes, and souvenirs from Nuremburg
- p214 . 1961 family moved up the hill from Highgate road, better view, more light
- p215 . Doug worked for USPS, co-worker Georgia Abbot, whose husband Burton murdered Stephanie Bryan and was sent to the electric chair, testimony by Douglas Kelley
- p215 . George "Doc" Kelley practiced dentistry to age 91, died 1971, "outlived his son by nearly 14 years"
p217 . Rudolf Hess suicide by self-strangulation in Spandau prison at age 93
p218 . Gustave Gilbert Rorshach tests contradicted Kelley, claimed Nuremberg prisoners antisocial, disinterested in the suffering of others.
p219 . Molly Harrower blamed German fascism on susceptibility of normal people ... "It can happen here", echoing Kelley
p219 . Michael Selzer and Florence Miale The Nuremberg mind : the psychology of the Nazi leaders 1975 (at PSU lib)
p221 . José Brunner suggested politicians, business leaders, artists, and others might share Nazi traits. Kelley would have agreed (?)
p221 . Long Island University psychologist Barry Ritzler 1978 found Nazi responses different from the norm, but not enough to be disordered
p221 . Reneau Kennedy discovered some of Kelley's records among Samuel J. Beck's archived papers, led to the most extensive review of Nazi Rorschach results.
- p222 . The Quest for the Nazi Personality: A Psychological Investigation of Nazi War Criminals 1995 at PSU Library
- many individuals participated in atrocities without diagnosable impairments
- p222 . Ritzler, Harrower, Archer, and Zillmer on Kelley's side of the debatre
p223 . son Doug McGlashan inherited his father's records from Europe in the 1940s, and Donner Party artifacts
- p223 . Doug kept his father's collection; he wants to know more.
