33 84TH CONGRESS) SENATE S REPORT COMMUNIST INTERROGATION, INDOCTRI- DECEMBER 31, 1956.-Filed under authority of the order of the Senate of L 10 PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS JOSEPH R. MCCARTHY, Wisconsin HENRY M. JACKSON, Washington ROBERT F. KENNEDY, Chief Counsel DONALD F. O'DONNELL, Assistant Chief Counsel COMMUNIST INTERROGATION, INDOCTRINATION AND EXPLOITATION OF AMERICAN MILITARY, AND CIVILIAN PRISONERS DECEMBER 31, 1956.-Filed under authority of the Senate of July 27, 1956, and ordered to be printed Mr. MCCLELLAN, from the Committee on Government Operations, submitted the following REPORT MADE BY ITS PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS INTRODUCTION What is brainwashing? Were the American prisoners of war in North Korea brainwashed? Has the Department of Defense taken any action to prepare American soldiers for such treatment as their Chinese captors inflicted? These were some of the pressing questions confronting this country and which led to an investigation and hearings by the subcommittee. Brainwashing is a loose term difficult if not impossible to define with exactness. It means many things to many people. It has been interpreted by some to be a mysterious and irresistible type of treatment based on certain psychological knowledge possessed by the Communist countries. To others it is continuous interrogation of prisoners, and to still others brainwashing is a misnomer for certain police practices that have existed for many years. Through the subcommittee hearings we attempted to portray the type of treatment received by our prisoners of war from the Communists which is popularly known as brainwashing, We hope that through these hearings and this report the American public will have a better understanding of the Communist methods of interrogation and indoctrination. How these methods originated, what are the purposes, how they are applied, how much success is achieved, are questions for which the subcommittee has attempted to find some answers. We feel that it is only through an understanding of this problem that we can hope to meet and solve it. Ignoring it, pretending it does not exist because what is revealed may be embarrassing, can lead only to disaster. 1 During the Korean war which started on June 25, 1950, 7,190 American troops were captured by the Communists. Of this number, 6,556 were Army, 263 were Air Force, 231 were Marine Corps, and 40 were Navy. Only 4,428 of these prisoners were repatriated to the United States. In December 1953 hearings of this subcommittee on Korean war atrocities established that several thousands of American prisoners died or were murdered in prisoner of war camps. The present investigation of the Communist method of interrogation and indoctrination supplements these earlier hearings but relates to an entirely different phase in the lives of prisoners and one which has never been explored. The armed services of the United States have had various studies made of what happened in Korea to the American prisoners of war and have willingly furnished much of these studies to the subcommittee. We wish to acknowledge the full cooperation of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, as well as the Department of Defense, in furnishing this information and for the help and assistance given to this subcommittee during the investigation and hearings. CIVILIAN PRISONERS Dr. Harold G. Wolff, professor of medicine in charge of the department of neurology, Cornell University, who was head of a group of 20 civilian military scientists, has made an exhaustive study of the methods and procedures used by the Communist state police in the interrogation and indoctrination of persons regarded as enemies of the state.1 He testified that the methods used in Communist countries have their roots in secret-police practices which go back for many years. These practices, commonly referred to as "brainwashing," have become refined and developed in this 20th century as a result of many years of trial and error. Russia by the 19th century had developed a highly organized, effective, and powerful secret police. 2 Many of the techniques used today came into existence in some form at that time. The method of arrest, the development of the personal dossiers on individuals, the use of repetitive interrogation and the isolation technique find their origins or owe their developments to the Russian secret police." The 20th century brought forth a development and refinement of these techniques. In many cases there is the abandonment of direct physical violence. We find the use of Communist ideology and logic. We have the development of certain persuasive techniques, specifically the use of intimate prisoner-interrogator relationship.* The system although highly organized was even more fully developed during the famous purge trials in Russia in the late 1930's. Later a good deal of experience was gained by the Russians in dealing with the Germans captured during World War II. About 1949 their methods were communicated to the Chinese who utilized them, 11 Public hearings, Communist Interrogation, Indoctrination, and Exploitation of American Military and Civilian Prisoners, pp. 3, 21. P. 32. P. 6. P. 6. NOTE.-All page references in the footnotes refer to the published record of the hearings of this subcommittee on Communist Interrogation, Indoctrination, and Exploitation of American Military and Civilian Prisoners, June 19, 20, and 27, 1956, except where other- ́ wise noted. but modified and altered some of the Russian techniques. ferences will be discussed in a later section of this report. These dif Dr. Wolff stated that the term "brainwashing" has gained wide acceptance, but nowhere does there appear a successful scientific definition for this term. Much of the public speculation about brainwashing is not supported by the evidence. The idea of brainwashing and menticide has been fostered by the Communists for the purpose of creating a false impression that their method and manner of conducting interrogations is mysterious to the degree of being irresistible. It is true that the Communists have considerable skill in the extraction of information from prisoners and in making prisoners do their bidding, including signing confessions of crimes they did not commit. But the subcommittee hearings clearly established that there should be no mystery about the techniques the Communists employed. They are well known and understood. Actually their practices are based on the simple and easily understood idea of progressively weakening an individual's physical and moral strength. The Communists do not possess new and remarkable techniques of psychological manipulation. Their methods are not based on some weird psychological theory. It was established through the testimony of Dr. Wolff and others that the aura of mystery and fear which has long been associated with Communist methods of interrogation and indoctrination is, in itself, a major factor in their effectiveness." Actu- . ally, the Communists are utilizing a highly developed, but completely basic, and easily understood system in an attempt to obtain information from their prisoners and to convert them to beliefs acceptable to their captors. This is a point that was clearly established during the subcommittee hearings. Dr. Wolff testified that there are two systems in existence, namely, the eastern European, which is the Russian system, and the Asiatic, which is the Chinese system. Both are basically the same, differing only in their employment of certain techniques and in the so-called indoctrination phase." Eastern European or Russian system Testimony revealed that a political criminal, that is, any person who is a threat to the Communist Party or to the state, is subject to the following system in Russia: 10 The KGB, which is the state police, decides who threatens the party or the state. Once a person is arrested, he is deemed to be guilty. There is no hope for acquittal or vindication, as under this system judgment is made as to his guilt prior to his arrest. His case cannot be settled until a confession has been prepared which must be signed by both the prisoner and the interrogating officer.11 Dr. Wolff furnished a typical timetable with regard to an individual accused of a political crime: P. 7. • P. 4. 1. Suspicion. Army publication Communist Interrogation, Indoctrination, and Exploitation of Prisoners of War, p. 27. |