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In her book on Eichmann, Arendt (1963)states:
Half a dozen psychiatrists certified him as 'normal': 'More normal, at any rate, than I am after having examined him,' one of them was said to have exclaimed, while another found that Eichmann's whole psychological outlook. … was 'not only normal but most desirable' — and finally the minister who had paid regular visits to him in prison reassured everybody by declaring Eichmann to be 'a man with very positive ideas'.
In view of this, it is interesting to recall how Simmel (1946) characterized the anti-Semite:
The average individual anti-Semite appears to be a relatively normal, well-adapted person. He goes about his business, takes care of his family, and so forth. But he hates the Jews and it makes him feel good to know that many of his friends share his sentiments.
When, however, he is in an anti-Semitic crowd, his fairly integrated ego becomes disintegrated. 'This ego, by submerging itself into a pathological mass, saves itself from individual regression by regressing collectively.'
In my view, this 'normality' is merely simulated. The anti-Semite is a mentally disturbed person who, because his convictions are socially unacceptable, is obliged to hide them behind a façade of normality. When, however, the prevailing climate is anti-Semitic, such an individual need not regress collectively. Since he is already regressed, he can now identify with the mass feeling and thus expand his ego boundaries and enlarge his body image.
Psychoanalysts have given much consideration to the concept of 'normality'. It is a symptom hard to treat because it does not cause suffering and brings social rewards; but it is part of a defensive system serving to cover up underlying, and at times severe, psychopathology. The individual lives in terms of a façade, whose structure is patterned by an environment that gratifies his instincts.
After giving Eichmann a series of psychological tests, Dr Kulczar, director of the Tel-Hashomer Hospital p