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Introduction by Jan Stensson:
Religious and ethnic ideologies are used for the justification of hatred, violence and destructivity which we today see all over the world. In the efforts to understand and undermine the structure and functioning of those forces, which cause death and suffering to so many human beings, and threaten to dissolve the sense of humanness in large groups, psychoanalysts have not contributed to any significant extent. The Declaration of the German Psychoanalytical Society on Violence, Hatred of Foreigners and Racism, which was published in this journal, vol. 2, No 1, 1993, is a move in the direction of taking more responsibility on our part.
Psychoanalysts should have illuminating things to say on these phenomena based on our experiences in working with unconscious processes. One of those who has unfolded an understanding of racism is Béla Grunberger. We are grateful that he has given us permission to reprint his article “On Narcissism, Aggressivity and Anti-Semitism”. In this short paper he vividly, and with a few bold lines, dissects the narcissistic roots of racial and religious violence.