Although Nazi leaders such as Hitler, Himmler and Goebbels were deluded regarding their beliefs about Jews, according to conventional psychiatric thought these men could not be considered psychotic. An LSS Newsletter Subscriber wrote commenting that ‘Madness’ understood as mental illness—a psychotic break from reality—

does not apply in situations where a substantial portion of individuals from a given group share their beliefs, no matter how irrational or fantastic or bizarre these beliefs may seem. A common belief within a group becomes a norm, and as such, the act of believing is not abnormal. Therefore the postulate that Nazis were ‘mad’ or ‘insane’ does not apply.

This idea, apparently, comes from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Yet in spite of this psychiatric definition, we can’t help feeling that—however “normative” the cultural beliefs and behavior of the Nazis—their ideas and actions were “mad.”

The Nazis endlessly tortured and brutalized Jews, (before killing them), put Jews (and other classes of human being) en masse into chambers and released poison gas, and incinerated these human beings in ovens (“the Jew goes out the chimney”). By any stretch of the imagination, these forms of behavior are not "normal."

Still, people hesitate to apply terms like psychopathology or "disorder" to actions performed by the Nazis. If the beliefs and actions of the Nazis were mad or insane, how are we to characterize the behavior of nations in the Twentieth Century: the numerous episodes of revolution, war and genocide that resulted in the deaths of over 200 million people?

Some (like the historian Roger Griffin) might say that if certain forms of behavior occur with great frequency in history—however bizarre, weird or destructive they may be—they are "normal"--simply because they occurred so frequently.

Or we may consider the possibility that profound forms of psychopathology are contained within the political process. Perhaps “madness” is a central characteristic of this domain. Yet we hesitate to say that political history is a place of madness.