The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Goring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WWII

Douglas Kelly's name could have remained well-known in narrow medical circles, but history decided otherwise, throwing him into the epicenter of one of the most high-profile cases of the 20th century. Kelly was appointed chief psychiatrist at the Nuremberg Trials, where he established the sanity of 22 Nazi prisoners who were about to appear before the tribunal for the atrocities committed by the Third Reich. The central theme of the book is a kind of duel of minds in which the psychiatrist met with Hermann Göring and which, ultimately, left an imprint on the life and death of each of them. Readers will also be revealed important details of the trial and biographies of the accused, as well as deep questions that arose before Kelly during and after the diagnosis of Göring, Hess, Rosenberg, Ribbentrop, Keitel and others. What united the defendants? Did they all have mental disorders and innate tendencies towards cruelty? And most importantly, is there really a “psychotype of a Nazi,” or can anyone become a Nazi under certain conditions?