The Nazi IQ Tests And Their Results
Why we must prevent bad ideas from flourishing.
There was a collective call for justice in the wake of World War II. Too many horrors had been revealed.
More than a hundred Nazis stood trial between 1945 and 1949.¹ Nuremberg was chosen because of its symbolic value. It is where many initial Nazi protests and marches were held.
The trials included extremely graphic pictures and testimonials of the atrocities committed, as detailed by both its perpetrators and victims. You may recall the commonly cited defense “I was just following orders.”
Among those on trial were a “Nuremberg 21”. They were the most senior officials of the group, which included a killer’s row of 20th-century villains.
The push for clarity
There was a rush to conduct psychological examinations on these leaders prior to the trials, as they might result in quick executions.
It was driven by the science community’s desire to understand what could cause an otherwise sane person to such horrific acts. Their war crimes called into question the very nature of humanity, and how we define 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, a renowned genius, approached the tests with intellectual curiosity.
Dr. Gilbert was also smart, but Jewish, and made no secret of his disgust for a few of the men he interviewed.
Julius Streicher, in particular, left a damning impression. He was deeply anti-semitic, one of the vocal and unashamed advocates of genocide, and a true hellish incarnate of the Nazi regime. His actions deservedly brought him to the executioner’s noose.
Their initial results
Both doctors arrived at relatively similar conclusions about the twenty-one men. They noted 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.”²
The first was the Rorschach test which reve aled a few distinctions between the men.
This is “Card #2” which was presented to each Nazi, who was then asked to elaborate on what they saw.
Frank (senior nazi): Those are my darling bears. They’re holding a bottle. Beautiful prima ballerina dancing in white dresses with a 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 here and face there, clapping hands. [cuts off the bottom part with hand] Top red is the head and hat; the face is partially white.
The doctors found that the men, though sharing common character flaws, were all quite different from one another.
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 a gradated morality, and that we are profoundly shaped by both circumstance and inherent traits.
The IQ test results
After testing their personalities, the doctors conducted IQ tests on each of the 21 Nazi Leaders. IQ tests are still 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. What’s fascinating about these tests is that they are the only known IQ test of an entire branch of government leadership.
All who were tested demonstrated above-average IQs. A number of them scored quite high. The average of all 21 Nazi leaders was 128, nearly two standard deviations smarter than the average person (Average IQ = 100).
The bitter irony is that 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.
The three higher-scoring members
Hermann Göring was Hitler’s second in command. He was a highly charismatic man and he wielded great influence on those around him. Even within prison, he began to influence prisoners and guardsmen, so 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 who gave it to him (they suspect it was a guard he’d gained influence over).
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.
He scored 141.
Hjalmar Schacht scored the highest of all those tested but his story was different. As Minister of Economics, he was a key player in the massive expansion of Germany’s economy.
He’d had a falling out with Hitler and Göring in 1939 as he disagreed with their approach 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.
Consequently, he was enraged 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
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 and motivated people can be.
Their medical evaluations didn’t reveal twisted creatures with villainous lizard brains. They were flawed men, high on ego, low on empathy, and put in situations where bad ideas flourished.
Left unchecked, Their flaws deepened and in turn, the very worst in their humanity was brought out.
As difficult as this is to process, we may have been those men—given a different set of circumstances.
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] Speer, Albert. Inside The Third Reich (January, 1969).
[2] Dimsdale, Joel. Anatomy of Malice: The Enigma of the Nazi War Criminals (May, 2016)