Psychology of eyewitness testimony in Germany and Spain in times of war

The development of psychology, in particular applied psychology, does not take place in a social or political vacuum. Universities and research institutes depend on public funding. In times of war, economic resources are scarce, and the government and industry may redirect resources to endeavors they consider to serve their goals. We demonstrate this in an exemplary fashion for the history of the psychology of testimony during WWII in Germany and the involvement of psychiatrists during the Civil War in Spain. While industrial and military psychology increased in importance during WWII in Germany, basic experimental research and expert testimony before court declined. Several prominent Jewish researchers were expelled from their jobs and fled the country. In Spain, during the Civil War and the Franco regime, some psychologists and psychiatrists, influenced by German colleagues, engaged in diagnosing political dissidents in concentration camps. After the war, research on eyewitness testimony was practically absent until the 1970s, when the discipline experienced a renaissance through the influence of theories and research from English speaking countries. On the other hand, expert psychological testimony, mostly in cases of (child) sexual abuse, became widely established.