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This paper presents the results of studies of types of torturers. The Secret Service torturer in concentration camps in Germany during the Second World War typifies
the torturing behavior characterized by anal regression, and the second type of torturer, the phallic type, is typified by the French paratroopers who fought in Algeria during the Algerian War. Characteristics of anal regression in the torturer are exhibited in such behaviors as kicking, punching, and clubbing, meticulous accumulation of files, reaction formations such as exaggerated cleanliness in reaction to camp filth, and in defense mechanisms such as compartmentalization and euphemism. The phallic type is characterized by self-confident behavior in the face of anxiety, clinging to visible and particularly phallic signs of status, torture aimed especially at the male genitals indicating a primacy of the phallus, and fighting against passive and anal-regressive tendencies. The phallic torture would seem to be a strong attempt to deny castration anxiety, often through the identification of the self with the phallus and the need to indicate that "he is being damaged, not I." The authors point out that there are other types of torturers besides the anal and phallic, for instance, the exhibitionist tendencies of Japanese torture. Moreover, the anal and phallic bear the imprint of a collective context, showing, as Freud indicated, how perversions find a favorable ground in the group and how individual and group psychology have a profound interconnection.