Methods of personality suppression in a concentration camp

Based on the article by Maksimov M., On the verge — and beyond. Human behavior in extreme conditions, the journal «Knowledge is Power», 1988, N 3, p. 73-79.

Source vikent.ru

The psychology of personality suppression in a concentration camp as presented by Bruno Bettelheim

The Austrian psychiatrist Bruno Bettelheim, who visited the fascist concentration camps, singled out the methods of suppressing consciousness being introduced there (in addition to hard physical labor).

Here is how M. Maksimov retells the observations of Bruno Bettelheim:

• instilling in an adult the psychology of a child;
• chronic malnutrition;
• physical humiliation and/or constant threat of physical humiliation;
• intentionally meaningless norms and works;
• destruction of faith in one’s future;
• preventing individual achievements and the possibility of somehow influencing one’s position, etc.

“A familiar scene from camp life: an SS man forces a group of prisoners to perform meaningless “exercises”: “Get up! Lie down! Get up! Lie down! You look — and the hair begins to move on your head, you are seized by animal horror. It seems to be nothing to worry about. We are accustomed to seeing large groups of people coherently carrying out commands — the formation of soldiers, mass gymnastic exercises. The point, however, is that when a command is given, there is a small gap between its receipt and the start of execution — it takes time to process the command inside the person. However small this gap may be, the observer can easily catch it. So. The prisoner does not have this gap. The team instantly fails in the executive bodies. There is no processing inside, because there is no “inside”. This creature (it’s not a person) has no inner content, no personality, no soul — whatever you want to call it. You understand it with your skin — and fear squeezes you. You understand that you can do the same. Such a creature, I will further call the «ideal prisoner.» […]

The essence of the method is to instill in an adult the psychology of a child

This is evident throughout the camp. Chronic malnutrition makes a person think about food all the time. Constant topics of conversation among the prisoners: what was given or will be given in the dining room, what was managed to get in the camp store, stolen from the warehouse, exchanged for something valuable, what the SS men eat, etc. Further, in the camp, special, exaggerated attention is paid to cleanliness. Prisoners are constantly checked for cleanliness of hands, ears, shoes, and bedding. How are they punished? For an adult, in front of all the honest people, they take off their pants and flog him with rods — a typical childish punishment. Further, in the camp there is a huge number of laws, regulations, instructions, regulations, and so on. Moreover, many of them are unknown to prisoners, often contradict each other and create such an environment in the camp in which every step you take is a violation. You are always in the state of a naughty schoolboy — you always have something to punish for. As a result, an adult begins to behave like a child. There are no strong, permanent attachments between the prisoners in the camp, there is no real friendship. Prisoners are like children, they quarrel, then make up, then quarrel again. Ethics are childish. It is considered a merit to steal, to steal something from the camp economy. The camp is full of voluntary informers, although informing is not rewarded in any way, does not create better conditions, does not save from the gas chamber. […]

Collective responsibility

The camp does not punish exactly the person who committed the offense. The entire group of prisoners in which the offender was located is subject to punishment. If the violation occurred in the barracks, the entire barracks are punished, if during work — the entire working team. There were times when the whole camp was responsible for the misconduct of one person. This method is good because it forces the prisoners themselves to make sure that everything in the camp is always in perfect order. Your comrades in misfortune will not let you perform a feat, an act — they will tie you hand and foot in time. A paradoxical situation — the interests of the SS and the prisoners begin to coincide. It is easy to understand that the ability to take responsibility for one’s own actions is a powerful spiritual remedy, and in the camp it is unacceptable. […]

In the camp, a “background of terror” is constantly maintained, approximately at the same level: from time to time, in front of the prisoners, someone is flogged with rods, shot, sent to the gas chamber. Here is an SS man. He feels that in order to maintain this background, it is time to punish someone. Whom to choose when everyone is so indistinguishable — the same haircut, in the same striped pajamas? The one who at least somehow stands out from the crowd, that is, still retained something of his own, individual. The strength of this method lies in the fact that a person, in his natural striving for security, will himself carry out the inner work of destroying his personality in order to merge with this gray-striped mass, to become indistinguishable. […]

Another scene from camp life. The SS man mocks his victim. A group of prisoners approach the scene. About ten meters away, they all, as if on cue, defiantly turn their heads in the other direction and start jogging. The SS man stops them: «Look — it will be so with anyone who dares …». What is going on? That’s right — the prisoners show the SS man that they «do not see» what they are not supposed to see, but they see if they are ordered to. The essence of the method is the substitution of natural, spontaneous reactions of a person with reactions on orders: they order — I see, they order — I don’t see. Why is it forbidden to wear watches in the camp? Having a watch, you know how much time is left before lunch, you can distribute your forces, plan something yourself, manage the situation yourself, at least to some extent. This is a special case of the general rule — the lack of information in the camp about anything. Information is not just a convenience, it is an opportunity to independently assess the situation, it is some kind of right. And in the camp, a person is deprived of even the «most personal» right — the right to die. Suicide attempt was punishable by death. […]

The siren wailed. 45 minutes to get up, make your bed, do your morning toilet, drink a cup of warm liquid called “coffee”, and line up on the parade ground. Bed making is a special consideration. Everything should have an absolutely correct geometric shape: the corners are straight, the surfaces are flat. The pillow is in the shape of a cube, the quilt, on which a symmetrical rectangular pattern is specially applied, should be folded in a manner consistent with this pattern. And not just one bed, but a number of them in one aisle must be lined to the point — sometimes the SS men check the dressing of the beds with the help of geodetic instruments. Now imagine a barracks, two- or three-story bunks, and on them — people awakened by a siren after a six-hour nightmare-filled sleep. The one at the top inevitably spoils everything for the one at the bottom. And if even one bed is not made correctly, everyone will suffer. And you only have 45 minutes. There is a charge, charge of enmity and hatred for his own comrade, a prisoner. But now the beds are over, now — to the toilet. Well, the toilet is too strong a word. On a hut of a thousand people — five shocks open to all winds and eyes. A queue is forming. All prisoners have stomach problems due to poor nutrition, hard work and a general nervous environment. The queue moves unbearably slowly. She begins to urge the person occupying the push, insults, ridicule. You have to be on time, because later, during work, if you get caught, you will have to go to the SS man and, turning into a child, beg him for permission to go to the toilet. Having mocked you enough, he can allow it. Or maybe not allowed. There is a morning exercise with anger and hatred, which should be enough for the whole day. This caustic acid, accumulating inside a person, turns against him — corrodes his being.