Gustave Gilbert
Encyclopedia
Gustave Mark Gilbert was an American
psychologist
best known for his writings containing observations of high ranking Nazi
leaders during the Nuremberg Trials
. His Psychology of Dictatorship was an attempt to profile Adolf 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.
in 1911, the son of Jewish-Austria
n immigrants. He won a scholarship
from the School for Ethical Culture at the College Town Center in New York. In 1939, Gilbert obtained his Ph.D.
in Psychology
from Columbia University
. Gilbert also held a diploma from the American Board of Examiners in Professional Psychology.
During World War II
Gilbert was commissioned as a military psychologist with the rank of First Lieutenant
. Because of his knowledge of the German language
, he was sent overseas as a military intelligence officer
.
, Germany
, as a translator for the International 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 the confidant of Hermann Göring
, Joachim von Ribbentrop
, Wilhelm Keitel
, Hans Frank
, Oswald Pohl
, Otto Ohlendorf
, Rudolf Höss, and Ernst Kaltenbrunner
, among others. At first he did not tell them he was Jewish; after he told them, most of the prisoners did not mind talking to him. Gilbert also participated in the Nuremberg Trials as the American Military Chief Psychologist and provided testimony attesting the sanity of Rudolf Hess
.
In 1946, after the trials, Gilbert returned to the USA. 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 title Nuremberg Diary
. (This diary was reprinted in full in 1961 just before the trial of Adolf Eichmann
in Jerusalem.) The following is a famous exchange Gilbert had with Göring from this book:
and II who had suffered nervous breakdown
s.
In 1950, Gilbert published The 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 of Adolf Hitler
, based on deductive
work from eyewitness reports from Hitler’s commanders in prison in Nuremberg.
In September 1954, while he was an Associate Professor of Psychology at Michigan State College, Gilbert attended the 62nd Annual Convention of the American 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 of Long Island University
in Brooklyn
, Gilbert was summoned to testify in the trial of Adolf Eichmann
in Jerusalem. Gilbert testified on 29 May 1961, describing how both Ernst Kaltenbrunner
and Rudolf Höss tried in their conversations with him to put the responsibility for the extermination 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 at Auschwitz and different sums of people gassed there - under Höss commandment 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.
In 1967, Gilbert convinced Leon Pomeroy, Ph.D., then a recent graduate from University 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 in Brooklyn, New York.
Gustave Mark Gilbert died on 6 February 1977.
Also, the character "Abe Fields" in Michael Koehlmeier's 2008 book "Abendland" ("Occident") is based on Gustave Gilbert (see the interview with the author in Austrian paper "Der Falter" of 15. 8. 2007, http://www.falter.at/web/print/detail.php?id=533. In the book, Abe Fields sits in on the trials as psychologist and speaks to the defendants.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
best known for his writings containing observations of high ranking Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
leaders during the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
. His Psychology of Dictatorship was an attempt to profile Adolf 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.
Early life
Gustave Gilbert was born in the state of New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1911, the son of Jewish-Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n immigrants. He won a scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
from the School for Ethical Culture at the College Town Center in New York. In 1939, Gilbert obtained his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. Gilbert also held a diploma from the American Board of Examiners in Professional Psychology.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Gilbert was commissioned as a military psychologist with the rank of First Lieutenant
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
. Because of his knowledge of the German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, he was sent overseas as a military intelligence officer
Intelligence officer
An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile and/or analyze information which is of use to that organization...
.
Nuremberg trials
In 1945, after the end of the war, Gilbert was sent to NurembergNuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, as a translator for the International 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 the confidant of Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
, Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...
, Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Bodewin Gustav Keitel was a German field marshal . As head of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht and de facto war minister, he was one of Germany's most senior military leaders during World War II...
, Hans Frank
Hans Frank
Hans Michael Frank was a German lawyer who worked for the Nazi party during the 1920s and 1930s and later became a high-ranking official in Nazi Germany...
, Oswald Pohl
Oswald Pohl
Oswald Pohl was a Nazi official and member of the SS , involved in the mass murders of Jews in concentration camps, the so-called Final Solution.-Early years:...
, Otto Ohlendorf
Otto Ohlendorf
Otto Ohlendorf was a German SS-Gruppenführer and head of the Inland-SD , a section of the SD. Ohlendorf was the commanding officer of Einsatzgruppe D, which conducted mass murder in Moldova, south Ukraine, the Crimea, and, during 1942, the north Caucasus...
, Rudolf Höss, and Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Kaltenbrunner was an Austrian-born senior official of Nazi Germany during World War II. Between January 1943 and May 1945, he held the offices of Chief of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt , President of Interpol and, as a Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei und Waffen-SS, he was the...
, among others. At first he did not tell them he was Jewish; after he told them, most of the prisoners did not mind talking to him. Gilbert also participated in the Nuremberg Trials as the American Military Chief Psychologist and provided testimony attesting the sanity of Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...
.
In 1946, after the trials, Gilbert returned to the USA. 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 title Nuremberg Diary
Nuremberg Diary
Nuremberg Diary is Gustave Gilbert's account of and interviews he conducted during the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi leaders, including Hermann Göring, involved in World War II and the Holocaust. Gilbert served as a prison psychologist in Nuremberg, where he had close contact with those on trial...
. (This diary was reprinted in full in 1961 just before the trial of Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Otto Eichmann was a German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust...
in Jerusalem.) The following is a famous exchange Gilbert had with Göring from this book:
- Göring: Why, of course, the people 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 EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracyDemocracyDemocracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
, 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 only CongressUnited States CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
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 the pacifistsPacifismPacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
for lack of patriotismPatriotismPatriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.
Later life
In 1948, as Head Psychologist at the Veterans Hospital at Lyons, Gilbert treated veterans of World Wars IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and II who had suffered nervous breakdown
Nervous breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
s.
In 1950, Gilbert published The 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 of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, based on deductive
Deductive reasoning
Deductive reasoning, also called deductive logic, is reasoning which constructs or evaluates deductive arguments. Deductive arguments are attempts to show that a conclusion necessarily follows from a set of premises or hypothesis...
work from eyewitness reports from Hitler’s commanders in prison in Nuremberg.
In September 1954, while he was an Associate Professor of Psychology at Michigan State College, Gilbert attended the 62nd Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
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 of Long Island University
Long Island University
Long Island University is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution of higher education in the U.S. state of New York.-History:...
in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, Gilbert was summoned to testify in the trial of Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Otto Eichmann was a German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust...
in Jerusalem. Gilbert testified on 29 May 1961, describing how both Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Kaltenbrunner was an Austrian-born senior official of Nazi Germany during World War II. Between January 1943 and May 1945, he held the offices of Chief of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt , President of Interpol and, as a Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei und Waffen-SS, he was the...
and Rudolf Höss tried in their conversations with him to put the responsibility for the extermination of the Jews
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
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 at Auschwitz and different sums of people gassed there - under Höss commandment 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.
In 1967, Gilbert convinced Leon Pomeroy, Ph.D., then a recent graduate from University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in 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 in Brooklyn, New York.
Gustave Mark Gilbert died on 6 February 1977.
Selected works
- (1947). The Nuremberg Diary. Farrar, Straus and Company: New York.
- (1948). Hermann Göring: Amiable Psychopath. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 43, 211-229.
- (1950). The Psychology of Dictatorship; Based on an examination of the leaders of Nazi Germany. New York: The Ronald Press Company.
- (1951). Stereotype persistence and change among college students. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 46, 245-254.
Portrayal in popular culture
Gustave Gilbert has been portrayed by the following actors in film, television and theater productions;- Matt CravenMatt Craven-Life and career:Craven was born Matthew John Crnkovich in Port Colborne, Ontario, the son of Joanne Leslie, a hairdresser, and Nick Crnkovich. He has an older sister, Deborah...
in the 2000 Canadian/U.S. T.V. production NurembergNuremberg (2000 film)Nuremberg is a 2000 Canadian/United States television docudrama, based on the book Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial by Joseph E. Persico, that tells the story of the Nuremberg Trials.-Part one:... - Robert JezekRobert JezekRobert Jezek is a Canadian film and television actor based in the United Kingdom.-Career:He is known for playing companion Frobisher in a range of Doctor Who audio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions and based on the BBC television series Doctor Who...
in the 2006 British television production Nuremberg: Goering's Last Stand - Adam GodleyAdam GodleyAdam Godley is an English actor.-Biography:Adam Godley has appeared in numerous movies including Love Actually, Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ....
in the 2006 British television docudrama Nuremberg: Nazis on TrialNuremberg: Nazis on TrialNuremberg: Nazis on Trial, is a BBC documentary film series consisting of three one-hour films that re-enact the Nuremberg War Trials of Albert Speer, Hermann Göring and Rudolf Hess...
Also, the character "Abe Fields" in Michael Koehlmeier's 2008 book "Abendland" ("Occident") is based on Gustave Gilbert (see the interview with the author in Austrian paper "Der Falter" of 15. 8. 2007, http://www.falter.at/web/print/detail.php?id=533. In the book, Abe Fields sits in on the trials as psychologist and speaks to the defendants.