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This little book presents the experiences and thoughts of a Dutch psychiatrist during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, and as a bit of on-the-spot reporting is a useful addition to the literature concerning the impact of war on the individual.
The shattering effect of the first days of the occupation, with the disruption of the government and the consequent inability of the citizen to find symbols of a group with which to identify himself, are portrayed, and then the gradual development of a sense of unity, focusing in hatred of the oppressor. Traitors there were, of course, many of them previously well recognized as psychopaths and misfits. This group was small, however—not over two per cent of the population, says the author.
In speaking of the 'Deutschland Complex' exhibited by the Nazis, Dr. Meerloo comments: 'It is dangerous to speak of a collective psyche unless we remind ourselves constantly that it is a literary image without reality. It is, after all, individuals who make up a collectivity. A bad or a good collectivity may be built up with the same individuals; the results depend on the social system' (p. 28). He discusses at some length the tensions, guilts and insecurities which led to the development of the primitive 'participation mystique' among the Nazis.
In Chapter Four, on Hitler's Psychological Weapons (fear, slander and suspicion, hypnosis, propaganda and 'psychological artillery'), the author discusses the various methods utilized on the Dutch. He comments, 'All-out propaganda does not pay in the long run. It inevitably arouses suspicion, and once people start checking statements made by their own Government against outside information, it is no longer possible to tell downright lies' (p. 41). 'A people accustomed to think for itself may become immune to propaganda and may develop a resistance against the most insidious of slogans' (p. 43).
There are illuminating comments on Democracy and Fascism Within Us, Delusion and Mass Delusion,