The Professionalization of Psychology in Nazi Germany

It has been widely believed that psychology in Germany, faced with political antipathy and mass emigration of its leading minds, withered under national Socialism. Yet in The Professionalisation of Psychology in Nazi Germany, Ulfried Geuter tells a radically different story of how German psychology, rather than disappearing, rapidly grew into a fully developed profession during the Third Reich. Geuter makes it clear that the rising demands of a modern industrial nation gearing up for a war afforded psychology with a unique opportunity in Nazi Germany: to transform itself from a marginal academic discipline into a state-sanctioned profession. This opportunity was mainly presented byWehrmacht, whose demand for psychological expertise led to increasing support for academic departments, and to the expansion and standardisation of training programmes - a process of professionalisation which culminated in 1941 with the creation of a state examination for Diplom, a professional psychology degree. Although the Wehrmacht’s demand for its services fell along with the fortunes of the Nazi regime, the professional base psychology has carved for itself remained for the duration of the war and to this date. The relevance of this book goes far beyond history of German psychology. Its conclusion - that psychology in Germany grew through its alliance with the interests of the army, the industry and the ruling regime - points towards the larger issue behind the particulars: the tangled relation amongst science, professional expertise, and state power in modern society.