RESUMEN
At the Wiesbaden Internist Congress of 1949, Alexander Mitscherlich and Viktor von Weizsäcker called for an expansion of the scientific concept of causality to include the search for the meaning of illness in one's personal history. This called into question a traditional psychiatric paradigm which presumed somatic causes of mental illness. Additionally, common psychiatric evidence practices were put to the test. In the first part of this article, three psychiatric positions that were presented at the 1949 congress are reconstructed. In the second part, the development of one of the psychiatrists involved, Jürg Zutt, is examined by focusing on the question of the possible effects of the Wiesbaden debate on his scientific reorientation as well as its consequences for his view of psychiatric evidence.
Asunto(s)
Trastornos Mentales , Médicos , Psiquiatría , Antropología , Causalidad , Historia del Siglo XX , HumanosRESUMEN
During World War II, psychiatric patients hospitalized in asylums in Eastern Prussia became victims of two separate killing programmes: first, by the SS-special command Lange, second by the centrally (in Berlin) organized "euthanasia"-"Aktion T4". By an analysis of the patient files of the victims, the present paper shows that the historical actors responsible for the killings were communicating with each other. It is now also possible to reconstruct the exact dynamic in time and space of the killings. A comparative analysis of the selection criteria within the total population of the asylums documents that in both programs, the responsible historical actors included physicians and provincial administrative personnel; it further shows that under the conditions of war, only patients who were able to contribute to the asylum work and economy, and were behaviourally adapted could survive.