In Which Jung prewrites AtD's epigraph

[Jude Bloom]

> 
> On Mar 14, 2012, at 6:21 PM, Ian Livingston wrote:
> 
> I have yet to see any compelling evidence for Jung having been
> complicit with the Nazis. It seems the argument hinges mostly on his
> having survived.


I think you're right. Except I think the misunderstanding was from more than just his survival. From The Guardian, 6/6/11 ( http://bit.ly/ifXRak ) :



"The evidence is carefully weighed in Deirdre Bair's biography and, in retrospect, Jung could be accused of making mistakes during the 1930s. However, other actions he took clearly rescue his reputation.

"The accusation that he was a Nazi fellow traveller stem from evidence such as a magazine article he had written 1918. Jung drew distinctions between Jewish and German psyches to illustrate the variety of heritable elements of the collective unconscious. When Aryans reread the article in the 1930s, they distorted it out of all proportion. Further, they glossed over another observation, that the German psyche had "barbarian" tendencies, Jung's reflection on the 1914-18 war. They also missed his main point that the unconscious should be taken very seriously. It can drive the death of millions.

"Jung is also accused of complying with the Nazi authorities, in particular with Matthias Göring, the man who became the leader of organised psychotherapy in Germany, not least because he was the cousin of Hermann Göring. In fact, Matthias put Jung's name to pro-Nazi statements without Jung's knowledge.

"Jung was furious, not least because he was actually fighting to keep German psychotherapy open to Jewish individuals. And that was not all. Bair reveals that Jung was involved in two plots to oust Hitler, essentially by having a leading physician declare the Führer mad. Both came to nothing.

"It has also come to light that Jung operated as a spy for the OSS (the predecessor to the CIA). He was called "Agent 488" and his handler, Allen W. Dulles, later remarked: "Nobody will probably ever know how much Prof Jung contributed to the allied cause during the war."

"After the war, Rabbi Leo Baeck, a survivor of the Theresienstadt concentration camp, confronted his friend about his involvement with the Nazis. Jung admitted failings, though perhaps also had the chance to tell a fuller story. Baeck and he were fully reconciled. Fifty years after Jung's death, the anniversary that falls today, it is time that casual Nazi accusations ceased too."



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