NAZI GROUP STRATEGY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 October 1941, Page 8

NAZI GROUP STRATEGY

INFLUENCES THROUGH GROUP. “Hitler undoubtedly has invented a new method which could be called Nazi group strategy,” said Karl Mannheim in a recent broadcast' talk. “The main point about Hitler’s psychological strategy is that he never approaches the individual as a person but always as a member of a social group. What Hitler does instinctively is in keeping with discoveries of modern sociology, namely, that man is most easily influenced through his group ties. What is even more important, his reactions vary according to the particular group. Man behaves differently in the family, in the club, in the army, in business life, or.as a citizen at large. The great Duke of Marlborough was head of the army, yet at home he was under the thumb of his wife. Each group seems to have its own traditions, its own prohibitions, its own forms of selfexpression and as long as these groups are intact, they support and guide the behaviour of their members. Hitler instinctively knows that, as long as people are sheltered in their own social groups, they are immune from his influence. The hidden device of Hitler’s Strategy is therefore to break the resistance of the individual mind by disorganising the groups to which those individuals belong. He knows that a man without'group ties is like a crab without its shell. This disorganisation, like his blitz tactics in war, must be both rapid and violent. But even so, its effect will last only if he succeeds in building up immediately new groups which will promote the kind of behaviour approved 'by his party. Thus there are two main stages in Hitler’s group strategy: breaking down the traditional groups of civilised society and a rapid rebuilding on the basis of an entirely new group patted.”