The experienced gained in the German concentration camps during
the Second World War showed that it was possible to induce
widespread infantile behavior in masses of adults. Childlike action
extended beyond obedience to the guards and showed that a basic
character transformation had occurred. Previous social-psychological
theory stressed the ways in which an individual's personality was
shaped during his earliest childhood years and emphasized the
tenacity with which these early traits resisted attempt at alteration.
Personality theory was not adequate to what occurred in the camps.
The concentration camp experience began with what has become
labeled as shock procurement. As terror was one of the
many tools of the system, surprise late-night arrests were the
favorite technique. Camp inmates generally agreed that the train
ride to the camp was the point at which they experienced the
first brutal torture. Herded together into cattle cars, without
adequate space, ventilation, or sanitary conditions, they had to
endure the horrible crowding and the harassment of the guards.
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