The Results of the Nazi IQ Tests

The Results of the Nazi IQ Tests medium.com/history-of-yesterday/the-results-of-the-nazi-iq-tests-c3a5e442f37c July 20, 2020

The Nuremberg psychological examinations of Nazi leaders were surprising, but certainly not shocking.

Source: pic via Wikimedia Commons

Retribution was expected in the wake of World War II. Too many horrors had been revealed. More than a hundred Nazis stood trial between 1945 and 1949. Nuremberg was chosen as the location because of its symbolic value. It’s where many of the initial Nazi protests and marches were held:

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Rally in Nuremberg pic via Wikimedia commons

The trials included graphic pictures and testimonials of the atrocities committed. You may know of the commonly cited defense “I was just following orders.”

Among those on trial were a “Nuremberg 21”. They were the highest level officials of the group, a who’s who list of Nazi leaders.

Prior to their trials, there was a push to conduct psychological examinations on these leaders. It was driven by the scientific community’s interest to understand what drives a person to such acts. Their war crimes called into question the very nature of man, and of good and evil.

A gifted psychiatrist, Dr. Kelley, and a prominent psychologist, Dr. Gilbert, would conduct the tests, through a series of interviews with each leader.

Dr. Kelley, himself a renowned genius, approached the tests with intellectual curiosity.

Gilbert, also smart, but Jewish, made no secret of his distaste for some of the men he spoke with. Julius Streicher, in particular, left a damning impression on him. The man was deeply anti-Semitic, one of the vocal and unashamed advocates of genocide. His actions would deservedly bring him to the executioner's noose.

As a whole, both doctors came to relatively similar conclusions about the twenty-one personalities, noting the men were (mostly) sane, though prone to deep character flaws: Dr. Kelly: “Strong, dominant, aggressive, egocentric personalities. Their lack of conscience is not rare. They can be found anywhere in the country, behind big desks deciding the fate of their nations.”

Dr. Gilbert: “Ruthlessly aggressive, emotional insensitivity, presented with a front of utter amiability (likeability). Narcissistic sociopaths.”¹ The first was the Rorschach test. This is card #2 that was presented to the Nazi leaders.

They were asked to elaborate on what they saw.

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Source: pic by Discover Magazine.

Frank (senior nazi): Those are my darling bears. They’re holding a bottle. Beautiful prima ballerina dancing in white dresses with red light shining from below Rudolf Hess (Deputy Führer): Two men talking about a crime. Blood is on their mind.

Hermann Göring (Hitler’s #2): [laughs] Those are two dancing figures, very clear, shoulder her and face there, clapping hands. [cuts off the bottom part with hand] Top red is head and hat; the face is partially white.

The doctors found that the men, though sharing common character flaws, were all very different from each other.

The analysis also presented challenging philosophical questions. Prior to this, society mostly looked at evil as a black and white concept. The tests reinforced the idea of gradated morality, that we are profoundly shaped by personality and circumstance.

After they tested their inherent personalities, they assessed their intelligence, conducting IQ tests on each of the 21 Nazi Leaders. IQ tests are actually quite common in death penalty cases. But they are usually used to determine if the accused has mental retardation (to avoid execution).

Evil or not, few suspected these leaders were fools. And what’s fascinating about this test is that it’s the only known IQ test of an entire branch of government leadership.

All who were tested demonstrated above average IQ’s. A number of them had very high scores. The average of all 21 Nazi leaders was 128, nearly two standard deviations smarter than the average person (Average IQ=100).

There’s bitter irony in all this as IQ tests were but another mechanism Nazis used to kill and sterilize nearly half a million people. And their high scores, in this final hour, did plenty to service their egos.

These three were among the higher-scoring members: 3/6

Hermann Göring was Hitler’s second in command. He was a highly charismatic man who wielded great influence on those around him. Even within prison, he began to influence prisoners and guardsmen, to the point that they moved his cell further away from the others.

He committed suicide two hours before he was to be hanged. He swallowed a cyanide pill and they still don’t know precisely who gave it to him (it was likely a guard he’d gained influence over).

Source: pic by photos.com

He scored a 138 on his IQ test Arthur Seyss-Inquart served as chancellor of The Netherlands for the Nazi party. He spearheaded the deportation and murder of tens of thousands of Jews. The inescapable facts of his actions led to his conviction of crimes against humanity. He was executed in 1946.

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Source: pic via Wikimedia Commons

He scored a 141.

Hjalmar Schacht scored the highest of all those tested but his story was different. He was the Minister of Economics and a key player in the massive expansion of Germany economy.

He had a falling out with Hitler and Goring in 1939. He disagreed with their policies and became critical of the Nazi regime. This, and his ties to Hiter’s attempted assassins, led to his arrest and deportation to a concentration camp, where he languished for years.

He was furious at his arrest and trial at Nuremberg as he’d been such a vocal critic and imprisoned for those criticisms. He offered a strong defense and was later acquitted.

He scored an IQ of 143.

The full breakout of all 21 scores: Schacht, Hjalmar 143 Seyss-Inquart, Arthur 141 Dönitz, Karl 138 Göring, Hermann 138 Papen, Franz von 134 Raeder, Erich 134 Frank, Hans 130 Fritzsche, Hans 130 Schirach, Baldur von 130 5/6

Keitel, Wilhelm 129 Ribbentrop, Joachim von 129 Speer, Albert 128 Jodl, Alfred 127 Rosenberg, Alfred 127 Neurath, Konstantin von 125 Frick, Wilhelm 124 Funk, Walther 124 Hess, Rudolf 120 Sauckel, Fritz 118 Kaltenbrunner, Ernst 113 Streicher, Julius 106 The Nazi party was a shining example of how dangerous a collective effort by smart, motivated people can be.

Their medical evaluations didn’t reveal creatures with villainous lizard brains. They were flawed men, high on ego, low on empathy, put in situations where bad ideas flourished. Their flaws deepened. Their hearts turned black, and in turn, the very worst in their humanity was brought out.

It’s a good reminder that we must continually police ourselves and those around us.

In the words of Hannah Arendt, “The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be either good or evil.”

Sources/Further Reading: [1] Dimsdale, Joel. Anatomy of Malice: The Enigma of the Nazi War Criminals.

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