The Case of Rudolf Hess: A Problem in Diagnosis and Forensic Psychiatry

The publication of what is in large measure a medical history is unusual, though not without precedent. For obvious and very proper reasons, doctors do not normally publish accounts of their patients, alive or dead, and the fact that the patient was one by force majeure makes very little difference. In this case, however, the importance of showing to as wide a public as possible the considerable abnormality of a man whose influence on world history has been marked made us, after much consideration, override the scruples which as medical men we felt. In a world where psychopathic men can so easily become leaders and where to-day they might by their own personal whims or decisions launch another war on the nations, it is for all of us a duty to study and comprehend the nature of such men. It is important to see how morbid fantasies can activate political conduct of far-reaching importance. It is for these reasons, after due consideration, that the material of this book has been put together and is made public.