About the book: 1956 / Joost Meerloo Joost Abraham Maurits Meerloo Born (1903-03-14) March 14, 1903 The Hague, Netherlands Died (1976-11-17 ) November 17, 1976 Amsterdam, Netherlands Joost Abraham Maurits Merlo (March 14, 1903 – November 17, 1976) was a Dutch/American medical doctor and psychoanalyst. He is the author of Mind Rape, an analysis of brainwashing and thought control techniques in totalitarian states. Meerloo was born as Abraham Maurits Meerloo in The Hague, Netherlands. He came to the United States in 1946. was naturalized in 1950 and resumed Dutch citizenship in 1972. Dr. Meerloo has practiced psychiatry for over forty years. He worked as a staff member in the Netherlands until 1942 under the Nazi occupation, when he adopted the name Joost (instead of the more Jewish-sounding Abraham) to deceive the occupying forces. In 1942 he fled to Belgium, and from there he fled to England (barely escaping death at the hands of the Germans). He became a colonel and was head of the psychological department of the Dutch army in exile in England. After the war he served as High Commissioner for Social Security in the Netherlands and was also an advisor to UNRRA and SHAEF. An American citizen since 1950, Dr. Merloo was a faculty member at Columbia University and an associate professor of psychiatry. He was the author of many books, including Mind Rape (a classic work on brainwashing), Conversation and Communication, and Hidden Communication. He was the son of Bernard and Anna Frederica (Benjamina) Merloo. He was the youngest of six children and the only one to escape an occupied country and survive the Holocaust. He married Elisabeth Johanna Kalf den Haag on May 16, 1928. The couple divorced on February 19, 1946. married Louise Betty "Luke" Duits (physical therapist) in New York City on May 7, 1948. Meerloo specialized in the field of thought control techniques used by totalitarian and other regimes. Published in 1956 and written by Joost A. M. Meerloo, M.D., Instructor in Psychiatry, Lecturer in Social Psychology at Columbia University, The New School for Social Research, former Chief of the Psychological Department of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Merloo's most famous book is The Rape of the Mind, published in 1956. The book attracted widespread attention, in part because it dealt with the totalitarian applications of brainwashing techniques during the Korean War. . The book explains how scientific brainwashing is carried out and states that "hardly anyone can resist it." “It is known that fear and constant pressure create mental hypnosis. The conscious part of the personality no longer takes part in automatic confessions. The brainwashed person lives in a trance, repeating a tape cut to him by someone else.” Like their totalitarian counterparts, democratic societies are subject to the insidious influence of mind control. Such influences surround the citizens of free societies, "on both the political and non-political level, and they become as dangerous to a free way of life as aggressive totalitarian governments themselves." People must beware of the creeping intrusions into their minds from technology, bureaucracy, prejudice and mass delusion. Freedom and democracy depend in part on mental freedom education—helping children and adults think for themselves and see the heart of the problem—helping them understand concepts rather than just memorize facts. Throughout much of the book, Meerloo's target is the historical roles of the Nazis and Communists in the post-1945 world. However, he also attacks the witch hunt through the House Un-American Activities Committee: "The right of Congress to investigate can be violated and misused. The power of investigation can become a force of destruction - not only the person being attacked, but also the soul1-61577-376-2 )