I have always been curious about why some people commit evil crimes. This is why, when I read about the movie ‘Nuremberg’, I was curious to watch it. The movie is based on the book ‘The Nazi and the Psychiatrist’, which tells the story of US Army psychiatrist Dr Douglas Kelley, who was sent to evaluate 22 senior Nazi leaders after the end of the Second World War.
Dr Kelley’s official assignment was to determine whether the defendants understood the charges against them and were competent to stand trial. But he wanted to study the nature of evil behind their crimes so it could be prevented in the future. He interviews General Hermann Goering, Hitler’s second-in-command, expecting to find him monstrous, irrational, or insane.
Instead, Kelley found a man who was intelligent, charming, narcissistic and deeply self-assured. The two men shared an unexpected rapport: both were articulate, confident and convinced of their correctness. Their conversations became a complex mix of mutual admiration and mutual manipulation, each using the other for his own purposes.
But, beneath the humour and intellect, Dr Kelley saw a man without empathy, remorse, or moral restraint. A man capable of inflicting unimaginable suffering without hesitation.
What shocked Dr Kelley most was not Goering’s evil, but his normality. After administering several psychological tests and extensive personality assessment scales, Kelley reached a conclusion that disturbed him deeply: the Nazi leaders were not clinically insane. They were, in fact, psychologically normal.
This conclusion stood in contrast to that of a psychologist who also evaluated the defendants earlier and argued that they suffered from deep psychopathology, which was more comforting to the public. If the Nazis were insane, then evil could be viewed as an illness, something rare, treatable, and distant from the rest of us.
Kelley’s view was more unsettling; evil is not a disease carried by a few but potential within many. Under certain social, political and psychological conditions, ordinary individuals can be drawn into participating in acts they would once have considered unthinkable.
This idea is not just historical. Modern research on obedience, conformity and group behaviour supports Kelley’s conclusion. When authority is strong, ideology is persuasive, and dissent is dangerous, even morally upright individuals can become complicit in wrongdoing. Context, it seems, can be as powerful as character.
The film ‘Nuremberg’ portrays this tension vividly. Russell Crowe, the actor who portrays Hermann Goering, displays a chilling mix of charisma and cruelty, while Rami Malek captures Dr Kelley’s struggle as a doctor trying to remain objective in the face of unimaginable horror. Kelley’s medical ethics — to protect life — collide with his role in a judicial process seeking to punish those responsible for genocide.
In the end, ‘Nuremberg’ forces us to confront a question that remains relevant in every society: Is evil something rare and pathological, or something ordinary people are capable of under the wrong conditions?
Kelley’s answer was clear — and profoundly uncomfortable. Evil, he believed, does not hide in the shadows of mental illness. It hides in the human heart, waiting for opportunity, authority and justification. Moreover, perhaps that is why the lessons of ‘Nuremberg’ must never be forgotten.
Dr Hamed Al Sinawi
The writer is a senior consultant psychiatrist at SQU Hospital
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