temporary custom by formally accepting her husband’s nation-
ality, but who still remained an advocate of the militarism, and
customary acceptance of the intensified hysteria which covered
Europe at the time. That was the Europe of the three Emperors:
the splendor of three people with limited intelligence, two of
whom revealed pathological traits. The concept of “honor”
sanctified triumph. Staring at someone too long was sufficient
pretext for a duel. These brothers were thus raised to be valiant
duelists covered with saber-scars; however, the slashes they
inflicted upon their opponents were more frequent and much
worse.
When people with a humanistic education pondered the per-
sonalities of this family, they concluded that the causes for this
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PONEROLOGY
formation should be sought in contemporary time and customs.
If, however, the sister had not suffered brain damage and the
pathological factor had not existed (exclusionary hypothesis),
their personalities would have developed more normally even
during those times. They would have become more critical and
more amenable to the values of healthy reasoning and humanis-
tic contents. They would have founded better families and re-
ceived more sensible advice from wives more wisely chosen.
As for the evil they sowed too liberally during their lives, it
would either not have existed at all, or else would have been
reduced to a scope conditioned by more remote pathological
factors.
Comparative considerations also led the author to conclude
that Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, also known as Stalin,
should be included in the list of this particular ponerogenic
characteropathy, which developed against the backdrop of
perinatal damage to his brain’s prefrontal fields. Literature and
news about him abounds in indications: brutal, charismatic,
snake-charming; issuing of irrevocable decisions; inhuman
ruthlessness, pathologic revengefulness directed at anyone who
got in his way; and egotistical belief in his own genius on the
part of a person whose mind was, in fact, only average. This
state explains as well his psychological dependence on a psy-
chopath like Beria39. Some photographs reveal the typical de-
formation of his forehead which appears in people who suf-
fered very early damage to the areas mentioned above. His
typical irrevocable decisions his daughter describes as follows:
39 L.P. Beria (1899–1953), Soviet Communist leader, b. Georgia. He rose to
prominence in the Cheka (secret police) in Georgia and the Transcaucasus,
became party secretary in these areas, and in 1938 became head of the secret
police. As commissar (later minister) of internal affairs, Beria wielded great
power, and he was the first in this post to become (1946) a member of the
politburo. After Stalin’s death (Mar., 1953), Beria was made first deputy
premier under Premier Malenkov, but the alliance was shaky; in the ensuing
struggle for power Beria was arrested (July) on charges of conspiracy. He and
six alleged accomplices were tried secretly and shot in Dec., 1953. [Editor’s
note.]
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
117
~~~
We know the effect of being “thrown out of his heart”, as it
is documented by the history of those times.
When we contemplate the scope of the evil Stalin helped to
bring about, we should always take this most ponerogenic
characteropathy into account and attribute the proper portion of
the “blame” to it; unfortunately, it has not yet been sufficiently
studied. We have to consider many other pathologic deviations
as they played essential roles in this macrosocial phenomenon.