Elisabeth Herrmann (writer, 1910)

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Elisabeth Herrmann

Elisabeth Maria Antonie Therese Herrmann (born September 9, 1910 in Königsberg , † 1984 ) was a German commercial artist and writer. She worked on the trauma of her forced sterilization under National Socialism in her work Ich, die Steri .

Life

"I, the Steri"

In her autobiographical book Ich, die Steri , Elisabeth Herrmann impressively describes the injustice she suffered under National Socialism . Her Graves' suffering , family strokes of fate, overexertion, malnutrition and depressive moods culminated in a nervous breakdown after the beginning of the Second World War . She then admitted herself to a mental hospital. Instead of the help she had hoped for, she received inhuman treatment and was eventually sterilized against her will . The law for the prevention of genetically ill offspring formed the basis for compulsory treatment .

Herrmann's descriptions begin with waking up after the operation. She finds herself in a makeshift hospital bed. A sandbag lies on top of her and presses her firmly onto the bed, while a support roller under her legs fixes the pelvis. She knows she was sterilized against her will. The following days, which Herrmann has to spend as the steri in the infirmary, are marked by sadness and anger.

Book editions and pseudonyms

Me, the Steri appeared for the first time self-published in 1969 - still under the pseudonym Ria Claasen . From 1985 the Psychiatrie-Verlag in Rehburg-Loccum and Bonn and the Hanoverian SOAK Verlag published the work under the pseudonym Elisabeth Claasen with the author's original illustrations. A thin tree is depicted on the cover of all issues. The strongest branch of this tree - the only one that bears flowers - has been snapped off and is hanging from the trunk.

The family name Claasen, which Elisabeth Herrmann chose as a pseudonym for the publication of the book, comes from her mother's ancestral line. Originally part of this family came from Denmark. Herrmann has been doing genealogical research since the 1930s and left several family trees graphically prepared by her.

reception

The first edition initially received little attention. Until the 1980s, the subject of forced sterilization was taboo in public, the victims were often still marginalized and had good reasons not to report on their experiences. In addition, those who were forced to sterilize were refused compensation; they were not recognized as victims of National Socialism . It was only after the new editions that Herrmann's book found its way into the research literature as the first literary reflection on a victim of forced sterilization.

literature

  • Wolfgang Ayaß : Forced Sterilization in National Socialism (collective review) (PDF; 55 kB) In: Contributions to National Socialist Health and Social Policy , Vol. 10. Berlin 1992, pp. 226–229.
  • Stefanie Westermann: Hushed Suffering: Dealing with the Nazi Forced Sterilizations in the Federal Republic of Germany , Böhlau Verlag, Cologne Weimar 2010, ISBN 3412205621 , pp. 13, 56, 123, 161
  • Klaus Dörner : The war against the mentally ill: After 'Holocaust': Recognize, mourn, encounter , special volume social psychiatric information , Mabuse-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1989, 2nd edition, ISBN 3-925499-36-9 , p. 294 f.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Claudia Andrea Spring: Between War and Euthanasia: Forced Sterilization in Vienna 1940–1945 . Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-205-78321-3 . P. 33 f.
  2. ↑ Victims of Nazi forced sterilizations demand compensation , Deutsches Ärzteblatt , January 16, 2009
  3. ↑ Klaus Dörner: An army of the forgotten. The socially persecuted of the Third Reich. Still a victim, second class , article with Herrmann's name mentioned, Die Zeit , 23 August 1985
  4. ↑ Uwe Gerrens: Medical Ethos and Theological Ethics: Karl and Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the dispute about forced sterilization and "euthanasia" under National Socialism . Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-486-70303-0 , p. 11 f.
  5. ↑ Stefanie Westermann (ed.): Medicine in the service of "hereditary health": Contributions to the history of eugenics and "racial hygiene" . LIT-Verlag, Münster 2009, ISBN 978-3-643-10478-6
personal data
SURNAME Herrmann, Elisabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Herrmann, Elisabeth Maria Antonie Therese (full name); Claasen, Elisabeth (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German commercial artist and writer
DATE OF BIRTH September 9, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Koenigsberg
DATE OF DEATH 1984