“The brainwashed individual does not just fall from the sky. He is created. He goes through years of training in inhumanity.”

Bertolt Brecht’s 1926 play Mann ist Mann explores how people—along with their attitudes—can be molded at will. Within a week, the worker Galy Gay is “reengineered” into an unfeeling fighting machine. In Erziehung zur Grausamkeit, Robert Misik examines the mass psychology of the new fascism.

The incited individual does not fall from the sky. He is made. Agitation stokes anger and bitterness, seeks to transform its followers into thoroughly paranoid characters, and fuels a cult of harshness, a delight in meanness, and fantasies about all manner of cruelties one could inflict on others. These are formative years of inhumanity.

Robert Misik not only analyzes which personalities are particularly susceptible to authoritarianism and which pathologies of our time favor the rise of the radical right, but also: What happens to individuals when they fall into the clutches of propaganda?

The event is being held in cooperation with the BuchBasel International Literature Festival (November 13–15, 2026). Festival pass holders receive free admission. We recommend that pass holders arrive at the box office approximately 20 minutes before the event begins. A limited number of festival passes have been set aside, but we cannot guarantee seating. More information here: BuchBasel
 

«Im Kopf von …» is a series of conversations and reflections organized by Werkraum Schöpflin and Kaserne Basel. It invites contemporary thinkers to take us inside their mental landscapes—into their research, doubts, analyses, and hopes. Together, we explore how, in a crisis-ridden world, we can not only hold our ground but also take a stance of solidarity and resistance that transcends boundaries!

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