The Science Of Evil

The Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Attempts to understand racism, antisemitism and the horrors of Nazi ideology led to the creation of a new field of science: social psychology. The investigation of how our thoughts, feelings and behaviours are influenced by others.

This Archive on 4 is about the science of evil and five of its pioneers: Kurt Lewin, Solomon Asch, Henri Tajfel, Serge Moscovici and Stanley Milgram. They were all Jewish. They all lost family in the Holocaust. They were all driven by one question: how could it have happened?

David Edmonds speaks to, among others, Moscovici's son, Milgram's daughter, and two of Tajfel's former students.

• Producer: Mark Savage for BBC Radio 4

Publicity contact: Radio 4 Publicity