The Real Psychiatrist Who Inspired Nuremberg

by

The new film Nuremberg, releasing in theaters on November 7th, features Rami Malek as a psychiatrist. He plays Douglas Kelley, a real person who was responsible for assessing high-ranking Nazi officials before the Nuremberg trials. In November 1945, Kelley interviewed 22 Nazi leaders to determine if they were mentally stable enough to face trial and to prevent them from attempting suicide.

Following World War II, the International Military Tribunal held trials for individuals accused of serious offenses, including crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, as well as planning these acts. These trials, a total of 13, took place between 1945 and 1949, according to the National WWII Museum.

Since Adolf Hitler had died by suicide on April 30, 1945, the focus shifted to Hermann Göring (played by Russell Crowe), who was the second-highest ranking Nazi official facing charges. The movie concludes with his trial and his conviction in 1946.

TIME spoke with Jack El-Hai, the author of the book that served as the basis for the film The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, to discuss the movie’s accuracy regarding this historical period.

The psychological evaluations of Nazi leaders

Dr. Kelley was an Army psychiatrist stationed at military hospitals across Western Europe. He treated soldiers who were experiencing what is now known as PTSD, working to help them heal and return to duty.

He conducted hundreds of hours of individual interviews with Nazi leaders over roughly five months. As portrayed in the film, Kelley explains that his goal was to understand the psychology of evil, hoping to prevent similar atrocities from happening in the future.

Kelley’s investigation is aided by Howard Triest, an American soldier who worked as a translator. Triest had a unique background – he was raised in Nazi Germany but was sent to the U.S. by his parents when they only secured one visa. Tragically, his parents perished in the Holocaust.

During the interviews, Kelley employed Rorschach tests, where subjects described what they perceived in ink blots. The film depicts one Nazi interpreting an ink blot as a “Jewish vagina,” while Göring saw it as blood.

During the evaluation, the defendants were shown pictures and asked to create stories based on what they observed in each image. This was done using a Thematic Apperception Test.

As depicted in the film, he used IQ tests and even magic tricks with patients, believing these activities would boost their self-assurance during job interviews, explains El-Hai.

Another psychiatrist, Gustav Gilbert (played by Colin Hanks), used similar methods but reached a different understanding of the soldiers’ conditions. Gilbert proposed co-writing a book with Kelley, but Kelley felt they disagreed on the core issue – Gilbert believed the men suffered from psychological problems. Contrary to what the movie depicts, the two never had a physical altercation.

Kelley’s conclusions

According to psychologist Dr. Kelley, the individuals in question were intelligent and highly driven, often prioritizing work and seeking opportunities. As summarized by El-Hai, Kelley believed they were ruthless and would exploit others to gain power and control.

Kelley observed that Göring was remarkably intelligent and creative, but also deeply self-centered, noting that his answers frequently revolved around his own experiences. As portrayed in the film, Göring boasts, “No man has ever beaten me.” However, Kelley refrained from offering any formal psychiatric diagnosis.

According to El-Hai, labeling figures like Göring as mentally ill or monstrous actually lets them off the hook. She argues that they weren’t simply driven by some inherent evil, but made deliberate choices, and should be held responsible for those actions. A ‘monster’ doesn’t choose, it just is, and these men did choose.

How Nuremberg ends

The film isn’t entirely accurate about Kelley’s experience at the Nuremberg trials. While the movie portrays him losing his job for sharing information with a reporter and then watching Göring testify, the truth is he was actually promoted and had returned to the United States before Göring even took the stand. He didn’t attend the trial to observe his client or meet with him privately as depicted in the movie.

As a viewer, I found the expert testimony incredibly impactful. It really sharpened the prosecution’s questioning, and by the trial’s conclusion, it became undeniably clear that Göring wasn’t just aware of the Holocaust and the horrors happening in the death camps, but fully understood the extent of the war crimes committed against innocent civilians. It painted a chilling picture of his knowledge and complicity.

Hermann Göring was sentenced to death, but he took his own life with cyanide on October 15, 1946. While it’s not known exactly how he obtained the poison, some believe a guard helped him smuggle it into prison.

Kelley documented his experiences in a book called Twenty-Two Cells in Nuremberg, and then began giving speeches. He cautioned Americans to be aware of individuals with similar ideologies to Nazis, particularly those enforcing segregation in the South. He went so far as to suggest that all political candidates should undergo psychological evaluations.

In 1958, struggling with issues in his marriage and alcohol abuse, Kelley died by suicide after taking cyanide.

The significance of Kelley’s findings

Gilbert’s book resonated more with the public than Kelley’s, likely because it offered a comforting explanation after the war and the Nuremberg trials. Gilbert argued the Nazis were mentally ill, which allowed people to believe such horrors were an anomaly and wouldn’t happen again. Kelley, however, presented a more unsettling idea: that individuals capable of such acts have always existed and will continue to do so, leaving society to grapple with the problem indefinitely. This difference in perspective explains the books’ varying levels of popularity.

Read More

2025-11-07 18:07