Gerhard Schmidt (physician)

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Gerhard Schmidt (born November 12, 1904 in Nörenberg , Pomerania ; † April 5, 1991 in Pogeez am Ratzeburger See , Schleswig-Holstein ) was a German psychiatrist , neurologist and university professor .

Life

The out Pomerania born Gerhard Schmidt, graduate at Marienstiftsgymnasium in Szczecin , devoted himself subsequently studying philosophy at the universities of Tübingen , Dusseldorf , Würzburg and Berlin until a year later to study medicine changed, he 1930 medical with the Examination and with the acquisition of the academic degree of Dr. med. completed. He then worked as an intern and assistant at clinics in Kiel , Greifswald and Berlin , before moving to the state German Research Institute for Psychiatry (Kaiser Wilhelm Institute) in Munich and to the psychiatric clinic of the Munich City Hospital headed by Kurt Schneider -Schwabing was appointed.

After the Second World War , Schmidt was entrusted with the provisional management of the psychiatric hospital in Haar near Munich, as he was not subject to National Socialism . Here he tried to document the euthanasia crimes ( Aktion T4 , Aktion Brandt , child euthanasia ) that had been committed there while Hermann Pfannmüller was in charge. Schmidt collected statements from surviving patients and the nursing staff. In November 1945 he gave a radio lecture about the insane asylums during the Hitler regime. He appeared as a witness for the prosecution at the Nuremberg doctors' trial . From 1947 he tried to publish a documentary about the euthanasia crimes. Not only did he not find a publisher for his publication, but also well-known psychiatrists, including his academic teacher Kurt Schneider, advised against publication.

Schmidt had already been dismissed from his post as director of Egfing-Haar in the summer of 1946. Significantly responsible for this was his successor, Anton von Braunmühl , who had worked as a doctor in Eglfing-Haar during the Nazi era under Pfannmüller. In the meantime, director of the Kaufbeuren sanatorium , Braunmühl wanted to return to Eglfing-Haar. He rejected Schmidt because of his rejection of insulin shock therapy , but also because of his open handling of the euthanasia crimes. Sources suggest that Braunmühl hoped to be able to further develop his therapy methods in Eglfing-Haar and feared that the institution could fall into disrepute by coming to terms with the euthanasia crimes. The victims of euthanasia were not remembered in Haar until 1990.

On January 1, 1947, Schmidt was appointed chief physician at the Lübeck-Ost municipal hospital, a position he held until 1965. Gerhard Schmidt also started a university career in 1952 after his habilitation in psychiatry and neurology as an adjunct professor for these subjects at the University of Hamburg , in 1965 he accepted the professorship for the same subjects and head of the psychiatric clinic at the Lübeck Medical Academy , In 1973 he retired and managed the clinic until September 1974, before Gerd Huber succeeded him. Gerhard Schmidt - he was particularly concerned with the delusion and the death drive - was the first to be awarded the Wilhelm Griesinger Medal of the German Society for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Neurology in 1986 .

Fonts

  • Selection in the sanatorium, 1939–1945: Foreword by Karl Jaspers , Evangelisches Verlagswerk, 1965
  • The sickness to death. Goethe's death neurosis, In: Issue 22 of Forum der Psychiatrie, F. Enke, 1968

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerrit Hohendorf: The Representation of Nazi “Euthanasia” in German Psychiatry 1945 to 1998 - A Preliminary Survey . In: Korot - The Israel Journal of the History of Medicine and Science 19 (2007-2008), pp. 29-48, here pp. 38 f.
  2. ^ Gerrit Hohendorf: The Representation of Nazi “Euthanasia” in German Psychiatry 1945 to 1998 - A Preliminary Survey . In: Korot - The Israel Journal of the History of Medicine and Science 19 (2007-2008), pp. 29-48, here pp. 39 f.
  3. ^ Gerrit Hohendorf: The Representation of Nazi “Euthanasia” in German Psychiatry 1945 to 1998 - A Preliminary Survey . In: Korot - The Israel Journal of the History of Medicine and Science 19 (2007–2008), pp. 29–48, here p. 41.
personal data
SURNAME Schmidt, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German psychiatrist, neurologist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH November 12, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Nörenberg , Pomerania
DATE OF DEATH April 5, 1991
Place of death Pogeez on Lake Ratzeburg , Schleswig-Holstein