The professionalization of psychology in Nazi Germany

by Ulfried Geuter

It has been widely believed that the discipline of psychology in Germany was attacked, or even ceased to exist, under National Socialism. Indeed, faced with political persecution and anti-Semitism, many of the leading minds of the field were forced to emigrate. Yet in The Professionalization of Psychology in Nazi Germany, Ulfried Geuter shows that, rather than disappearing, German psychology rapidly grew into a fully developed profession during the Third Reich. How was this possible? Geuter places his answer in the larger context of German military and economic history. He makes it clear that the rising demands of a modern industrial nation gearing up for war afforded psychology a unique opportunity in Nazi Germany: to transform itself from a marginal academic discipline into a state-recognized and -sanctioned profession.^ More than any other institution or industry, the Wehrmacht, seeking psychological expertise for its officer and personnel selection program, provided a ready market