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October 30, 1962. A PSYCHOANALYTIC STUDY OF ANTI-SEMITISM: THE PSYCHODYNAMICS AND PSYCHOGENESIS OF PREJUDICE, ANTI-SEMITISM, AND NAZI ANTI-SEMITISM. Martin Wangh, M.D.
This paper was written in preparation for a symposium on anti-Semitism held in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1962. The purpose of the symposium was to deepen understanding of anti-Semitism in the hope that a recurrence of the type prevalent in Germany between 1930 and 1945 may be prevented. Dr. Wangh's purpose was to apply psychoanalytic thinking to an understanding of this problem and thereby extend the traditional religious, economic, and political considerations. His paper considered prejudice in general, clinical material, anti-Semitism in Germany, and National Socialist anti-Semitism.
Dr. Wangh described prejudice from the standpoint of dynamics and genetics as an unrealistic attitude in which a person's judgment of another person or group is essentially beyond modification. Prejudice defends against impulses (predominantly but not exclusively aggressive) while at the same time expressing them. Characteristics of prejudiced individuals include a tendency to express