Menticide -- Lessons learned from the Cold War ©

The modern techniques of brainwashing and menticide- those perversions of psychology- can bring almost any man into submission and surrender. Many of the victims of thought control, brainwashing, and menticide that we have talked about were strong men whose minds and wills were broken and degraded. But although the totalitarians use their knowledge of the mind for vicious and unscrupulous purposes, our democratic society can and must use its knowledge to help man to grow, to guard his freedom, and to understand himself. 

Joost A. M. Meerloo, MD, Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, 1966 

After World War II, Michael Shiplov, a Bulgarian citizen, worked as a translator at the American Legation in Sofia, Bulgaria.  The Bulgarian secret police arrested him in 1949 on suspicion of espionage for the Americans, and, under the force of the secret police, he "confessed" to being an American spy.  He was not immediately jailed and released from custody. He went directly to the American Legation and wrote down what had happened to him.  The Bulgarian secret police rearrested him, and after a show trial, he was sentenced to prison.

 

Here are excerpts from Shipkov's full report that was published verbatim in the U.S. Department of State Bulletin, March 13, 1950::

 

I was ordered to stand facing the wall upright at a distance, which allowed me to touch the wall with two fingers of my outstretched arms. Then to step back some twelve inches, keep my heels touching the floor, and maintain balance only with the contact of one finger on each hand. And while standing so, the interrogation continued ... I recall that the muscles on my legs and shoulders began to get cramped and to tremble, that my two fingers began to bend down under pressure, to get red all over and to ache, I remember that I was drenched with sweat and that I began to faint, although I had not exerted myself in any way. If I tried to substitute [fingers], I would be instantly called to order . . . And when the trembling increased up to the point when I collapsed, they made me sit and speak. I did get several minutes respite, catching my breath and wiping my face, but when I had uttered again that I was innocent, it was the wall again.

 

After a time of this, I broke down. I told them I was willing and eager to tell them all they wanted. And if I were to stop and plead fatigue, or poor memory, or ask to rest -- the wall again, and the slaps, and the blows in the nape [of the neck]. And I remembered I would come up gasping and talk and talk and feel utterly broken.

 

Out of the jumbled memories, some impressions stand out vividly.  One: they are not overly interested in what you tell them.  It would appear that the ultimate purpose of this treatment is to break you down entirely and deprive you of any willpower or private thought or self-esteem, which they achieve remarkably quickly.  And they seem to pursue a classic confession, well round off in the phraseology, explaining why you were induced by environment and education to enter the services of the enemies of Communism, how you placed your capacities in their services, what ultimate goad did your pursue -- the overthrow of the people's government through foreign intervention. And they appear to place importance on the parallel appearance of repentance and self-condemnation that come up with the breaking down of their prisoner.

 

The March 13, 1950 issue of Time magazine carried a story "COMMUNISTS: How They Do it," which, in part, read:

 

The U.S. State Department last week published a remarkable document. It was one answer to a question that has interested the West since the famous Moscow purge trials of 1936-38, a question which has become increasingly urgent with such postwar trials as that of Hungary's Cardinal Mindszenty, Bulgaria's 15 Protestant leaders, and the U.S.'s Robert Vogeler: How do Communist secret police extort "confessions?? The Communists' first victim to tell his first-hand story is Michael Shipkov.

 

Psychiatrist Joost A. M. Meerloo Joost, in the Journal of Psychiatry, February 1951, coined the term "menticide" when he wrote that an "organized system of judicial perversion and psychological intervention, in which a powerful tyrant transfers his own thoughts and words into the minds and mouths of the victims he plans to destroy or to use for his own propaganda."

 

He presented Nazi propaganda as "social menticide," and the Cardinal Mindszenty case mentioned in the Time magazine article as an example of "individual menticide." We will look at the case of Mikhail Shipkov and "individual menticide."

 

In April 1950, the National Committee for Free Europe (parent organization of Radio Free Europe) reprinted, in the "public interest," a 31-page pamphlet entitled Breakdown: The Story of Michael Shipkov in the Hands of the Secret Police, which told, "How the Communist secret police are able to pry confessions of treason out of men and women who love their country, a story courageously laid bare for the first time in March 1950."

 

President DeWitt Poole described the pamphlet in a cover letter to the NCFE Directors as part of the "campaign to reach the American public." DeWitt Poole wrote, "I am sure you will agree that these pamphlets will prove useful in our struggle for victory in the contest of ideas." The back cover of the pamphlet informed the American public.

 

The Committee's members are convinced that the danger of the present crisis cannot be exaggerated. Freedom is at stake. At this very moment, it is being decided what kind of world our grandchildren are going to live in.

 

The ultimate decision lies in the contest of ideas. Only a world relieved of totalitarian despotism and held together by the tested ideals of freedom and democracy can live in peace. In the struggle for this consummation, the National Committee for Free Europe offers every single citizen the opportunity to throw in his weight. 

 

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt would later write about the NCFE pamphlet in her June 2, 1950, national syndicated column, My Day:

 

A little booklet I have just read, published by The National Committee for Free Europe, Inc., called: "Breakdown. The story of Michael Shipkov in the hands of the secret police." This pamphlet will give you a picture of how, under authoritarian regimes, confessions are finally extorted. One shudders to think what horrors confront people where justice no longer exists, where they live under constant espionage, and where freedom is something they may once have dreamed of but no longer know as a reality.

 

It seems impossible for people ever to free themselves under the circumstances described in this pamphlet. Neither is it conceivable for a nation to go forward and develop economically, spiritually, or socially under this type of government. Living must become so utterly futile. Even under the lash of fear, one must cease working and producing because life is so completely valueless. No one could want to bring children into a world where people are no longer allowed any personal freedom and must face moral and mental domination.

 

CIA Clandestine Radio Broadcasting from Radio Rome, Radio Vatican, and Radio Nacional de Espaňa to Lithuania in the early Cold War ©

AEGEAN was the cryptonym for the joint OPC-OSO project that began in November 1948 with support for the Lithuanian resistance group Vyriausiasis Lietuvos išlaisvinimo komitetas (VLIK)--The Supreme Committee for Liberation of Lithuania. OPC supported VLIK for both political and psychological warfare (PP) operations.

 

With the merging of OPC and OSO in 1952, the OPC functions under the project were given CIA’s Soviet Russia (SR) Division. The project cryptonym was then changed to CAPSTAN.

Voice of America broadcast to Lithuania for the first time on February 16, 1951. 

 

One of the early mentions of “black radio broadcasts” to Lithuania was in the renewal of the CAPSTAN Basic Plan October 1951 to June 30, 1953: “Psychological warfare activities will be centered on the support of indigenous organizations through which black radio broadcasts, distribution of leaflets and the support of newspaper and pamphlets can be carried out.”  The cryptonym of the project was changed to Project AECHAMP.

 

AECHAMP’S activities were listed in this report as: [B]roadcasting to Iron Curtain areas in the Lithuanian language on seven-day weekly schedules over the following short -wave facilities: “Radio Rome and Radio Vatican – 20 and 15 minutes daily respectively, 15 minutes daily over Radio Madrid. This time is available to the AECHAMPS free of charge.” 

 

VLIK also provided the following both on demand and at their own initiative:  texts, tapes, and speakers to 

 

§  VOA (Radio Center Munich and New York) 


§  RFE Munich (Polish Section) 


§  RIAS (Radio in the American Sector, Berlin) 


§  Radio Stuttgart (Südwest Rundfunk) 


§  NWDR Hamburg 


§  Deutsche Well Köln 


§  AFN (Armed Forces Radio for the American military)

 

VLIK also maintained a monitoring station at Scherbeuts, near Lübeck, Germany, to record radio stations in Lithuania. Local news and names were then rebroadcast with comments.

 

Daily broadcasts to Lithuania over Radio Nacional de España began January 1, 1955:

 

During the past year the activities under this project with respect to radio broadcasts have expanded considerably. Under the aegis of AEPOLE/1 there are now maintained regular daily ten to twenty-minute broadcasts to the target area via Radios Rome, Vatican and Madrid…|T|hese broadcast activities are especially the new broadcasts require expansion of the AEPOLE/1 Radio Section headquarters as well as the establishment of a Radio Section office in Madrid.

 

The programs were identified as the “Voice of the Supreme Committee for Liberation of Lithuania.” 

 

This was the radio schedules to Lithuania in 1955:

 

    Radio Vatican                      14:00 – 14:15              Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday

 

    Radio Vatican                      18:00 – 18:15              Monday, Wednesday, Saturday

 

    Radio Rome                        20:00 – 20:15              Daily

 

    Radio Nacional                    17:10 – 17:25              Daily

 

 One CIA comment in 1955 read: 

All the programs are identified as the Voice of the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania. It is believed that because radio sets in the USSR are expensive, the vast majority of the audience consists of persons of relative status and importance… In general the content of the radio programs is strongly anti-Communist. Their avowed purpose is to maintain the native traditions of the Lithuanian people in the face of enforced Sovietization. No attempt is made to accommodate the propaganda to operate within the framework of Communist indoctrination. The evidence available indicates that the Soviets have so far not made appreciable progress in eradicating Lithuanian traditions and the sense of Lithuanian nationality. 

One of the accomplishments of the CIA project during fiscal year 1957 was:

 

Direct CIA case officer contact was established with the Lithuanian program directors at Radio Nacional and Radio Rome, which were formerly supported by CIA indirectly through VLIK. They are now receiving from CIA modest monthly salaries and reimbursements for some operational expenses. In return for this assistance, they may be counted on to incorporate into their daily broadcasts propaganda material we provide or suggest. Although these Lithuanian language radio programs are still nominally supported by VLIK, they are in fact nearly completely dependent on CIA support. 

 

Moreover,

 

            Until a non-partisan radio center and propaganda policy group are organized by VLIK, or other elements of the Lithuanian emigration, CIA financial support and policy guidance will be given straightway to the directors of the Lithuanian radio programs at Radio Rome, and Radio Nacional.  This formula is designed to prevent the disintegration of these radio assets, while the leaders of the several political factions dispute over the mantle of prestige inadvertently associated with the party appearing to control the radio programs.

CIA sponsored broadcasts over Radio Rome, Radio Vatican, and Radio Nacional de España to Lithuania ceased on October 31, 1963. The decision was based on the “very limited effectiveness of the broadcasts.” And, "Based on the results of the peripheral monitor conducted by our Communications Officer at Warsaw, Helsinki and Stockholm, we concluded that if the signal is heard it all in the target area, it is beard sporadically and with difficulty.“ 

For more information: 

CIA Clandestine Radio Broadcasting over Radio Nacional de Espańa to Latvia in the Early Cold War ©

Radio Nacional de España began broadcasting to Latvia on February 1, 1955, as the "Voice of Free Latvians" (Brīvā Latviešu Balss) with 20-minute programs, three times a week. On March 1, 1955, the time was reduced to ten minutes, six days a week.

On April 7, 1955, CIA’s Chief SR/2 submitted a memorandum in which he wrote:  “Project AEFLAG is being formulated and will be submitted for approval upon its completion. This project as presently envisaged will provide for all phases of conducting agency-controlled broadcasts from Madrid.”  

CIA’s operational plan dated July 18, 1955, for Project AEFLAG had this purpose: “Activation of a Latvian language short-wave program directed at the Latvia SSR under cover of a Latvian émigré organization.” The daily scripts and tape recordings were prepared at CIA headquarters by “covert associates” and pouched to Madrid.  The objectives of the RNE radio programs were listed as:  

1.     To preserve the national identity of the Latvian people. 


2.     To promote an attitude of irreconcilability among the Latvian people toward Communism. 

3.     To foster pro-Western orientation of the Latvian people. 

The fundamental themes of the broadcasts included: 

·      Condemn and discredit the Soviet regime, leaders, personalities, and policies inimical to the Latvian people and the free world. 

·      Discredit Soviet foreign and domestic propaganda inimical to US interests.

·      Inform listeners that the peoples of the western world are aware of, and hold deep sympathies for the suffering of the Latvian people as the result of cruelties and atrocities, oppression, and exploitation visited upon them by the Soviet regime. 

·      Nourish the listeners' hope for ultimate liberation from the Soviet yoke without arousing undue expectations of early action.

Operational control of the radio programs was ensured by the fact CIA financially supported the scriptwriters in Madrid: “All financial transactions and expenditures in connection with these broadcasts will be under Agency supervision. The content of individual programs and the policy line will be examined and evaluated periodically.”  

The format of the initial ten-minute daily broadcasts was: 

·      Introduction (1 minute) – opening of the program, Musical signal: several bars from the Latvian Anthem "Dievs, Sveti Latvlju" and the frequency and time of day.

·      News and Comments (3 minutes) 
-- Factual coverage of principal news events within the Soviet orbit and the free world, ignored by the Soviet press and radio. These news items are to be supplemented by comments to make them better understandable to listeners behind the Iron Curtain.

·      Guiding Thoughts of the Day (4-5 minutes) – Commentary based on ideological or instructive themes.


·      Entertainment (music, anecdotes, etc. (1-2 minutes).

In December 1959, an appeal to listeners was broadcast requesting those individuals in the Latvian SSR, who listened to the broadcasts, to inform the station by writing a letter to one of two addresses in the West. Ten replies were received in response to this request. All of the replies commented favorably on the broadcasts."

CIA clandestine broadcasts to Latvia over Radio Nacional de España ceased on October 31, 1963.

For more information:

CIA Clandestine Radio Broadcasting over Radio Nacional de Espaňa to Estonia in the Early Cold War ©

CIA wanted to have Radio Free Europe (RFE) broadcast to the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) in 1951. It was first approved by the U.S. State Department in May 1951 and again in August 1951. RFE started to plan for the broadcasts, including the selection of personnel for the broadcasts, but then the U.S. Department of State vetoed the idea in November 1951: "There is nothing that needs to be said to the Baltics that cannot be said quite adequately by Voice of America."  

An attempt was made in August 1953 to secure independent radio facilities from the Pan-American Broadcasting Company, but the arrangement fell through because: 

 

Estonian émigrés in the U.S. have been negotiating with radio stations in Madrid and Hamburg. Radio Hamburg is handicapped by Allied restrictions, while Madrid is prepared to make daily radio time available as of October 1954, when additional transmitter facilities will be ready. 

 

A September 1954, CIA internal memorandum included these comments.

 

The question of RFE undertaking broadcasts to the Baltic area was reviewed several months ago, and the arguments against such an undertaking seem pertinent to the present proposal. At that time, the joint decision of the Agency and the Department of State restated that it is preferable to have broadcasting to that area handled by VOA.

 

The objectives of CIA Project AEBASIN for Fiscal Year 1955 included:


 


Radio Estonian émigré groups as such have no radio facilities of their own for broadcasts to Estonia. (Note: The VOA broadcasts, of course, are not included in this statement. They consist of three 10-minute spots daily from Munich and Algiers and are used occasionally by AEBASIN personnel on specific and limited topics acceptable to VOA.) Radio Free Europe, likewise, has no Estonian facilities at the present time. 

 

On October 16, 1955, CIA sponsored broadcasts to Estonia began on Radio Nacional de España. In January 1956, there was an internal CIA SR/PP staff evaluation of the broadcasts, which included this comment: 

 

The undersigned has read in translation a large number of AEBASIN
scripts dating from the inauguration of the broadcasts to October 16. In general, they are more than adequate for the audience. It is believed that if they get through the jamming networks, the programs would fulfill an important function in maintaining the morale of whatever individuals and groups in Estonia are favorably disposed towards the West and which harbor anti-Communist resentments.

 

Scripts refute Soviet propaganda regarding the peaceful motivation of Soviet policies and point up matters like the exploitation of individuals in the concentration camps, factories, and on the collective farms. The scripts are singularly entirely free from anti-Russianism, as distinguished from anti-Soviet sentiments, and the theme of eventual liberation is mentioned, but is sensibly not overstressed.

 

This comment appeared in the S.R. Division October 1958 Request for P.P. Project Renewal: "The AEBASIN operations have been conducted through the Estonian section at Radio Nacional, Madrid. Contact with Radio Regional is maintained through the Voice of Estonian Freedom, a cover organization located in New York City."  

 

Original broadcasts to Estonia were 15 minutes per day in the evening. In May 1958, programs were rebroadcast for another 15 minutes in the morning, for a total of 30 minutes per day. As to the continuing cover of the operation: “The cover organization for contact With Radio Nacional, the Voice of Estonian Freedom, has no popular membership. It claims to receive its funds from an “anonymous” donor. These points are not considered to be significant weaknesses and sound sufficiently plausible. In addition, this arrangement permits much greater control than would be possible if this organization bad a popular base with selected leadership.”

 

In 1963, a CIA memorandum concluded with

 

It is not believed that radio broadcasting has been highly effective … [T]he quality of the scripts used has been on the order to fair to good. What the actual effect has been within the Baltic states cannot be adequately measured. Although the principle of broadcasting to the Baltic States in the Baltic languages is subscribed to, it is not felt that the program which we have been subsidizing for this purpose has been performing satisfactorily.

 

Broadcasting to Estonia from Radio Nacional de España was terminated on October 31, 1963, effective December 31, 1963. Staff and families in Madrid returned to the United States or Germany.

 

More details are found in: