Hans Bender (psychologist)

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Hans Bender (born February 5, 1907 in Freiburg im Breisgau ; † May 7, 1991 ibid) was a German parapsychologist and doctor.

Life

After graduating from high school in 1925, he first studied law in Lausanne and Paris. In 1927 he moved to Freiburg, Heidelberg and Berlin to study psychology, philosophy and Romance languages. From 1929 he studied in Bonn with Erich Rothacker (psychology) and Ernst Robert Curtius (romance studies). After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists in 1933, he was briefly a member of the SA . In the same year he received his doctorate with Rothacker with the dissertation Psychical Automatisms . In parallel to his position as an assistant at the psychological institute of the University of Bonn , Bender completed a medical degree, which should give him a better reputation in view of his controversial research interests. For his assertion that after his medical state examination and his license to practice medicine in Freiburg in 1939 he was still doing his doctorate in medicine with Kurt Beringer with a thesis entitled Die Arbeitskurve unter Pervitin , he failed to provide evidence by presenting the doctoral certificate. To overcome this, too, he wrote another medical dissertation at an advanced age.

In 1937 Bender joined the NSDAP . In 1939 he worked as a volunteer in the psychiatric and internal clinic in Freiburg. Since he was unfit for military service for health reasons, he was able to replace the chair of his drafted teacher Rothacker in Bonn from the beginning of 1940, and from September he also worked in the Bonn Internal Clinic. In June of the same year he married Henriette Wiechert, the “star test subject” of his dissertation, which there under the pseudonym “Frl. Dora D. "or" Miss. D. “was named.

In order to be able to accept a call as associate professor at the Reichsuniversität Strasbourg , which was newly founded after the occupation of France , Bender was habilitated in a fast-track procedure at the University of Bonn with the thesis Crystal Visions , while in Bender's list of publications the title was Experimental Visions. A contribution to the problem of the illusion, the awareness of reality and the layers of personality is given. In response to an intervention by the organizer of the Strasbourg University, the historian Ernst Anrich , who was known as Bender from his university days in Bonn , the Reich Ministry of Science, Education and Public Education arranged for Bender to waive the mandatory teaching performance for habilitation procedures. From 1941 to 1944 he taught in Strasbourg in addition to psychology and clinical psychology, ethnic psychology and border areas of psychology. At the same time he headed the Paracelsus Institute, where Bender actually wanted to conduct research on astrology . At the request of the patron Friedrich Spieser , however, he then switched to work on dowsing . In addition to his teaching activities, he worked with the SS Ahnenerbe .

After his internment in a British camp from November 1944 to July 1945, he returned to Freiburg im Breisgau , where he was given a teaching position in psychology at the university and, in 1950, founded his non-university institute for border areas of psychology and psychohygiene eV . In 1957 he founded the magazine for parapsychology and border areas of psychology .

From 1946 to 1949 he represented the chair for psychology and education and then worked as a dietician . After visiting professorships in 1951 and 1954, he was appointed associate professor for border areas of psychology, and in 1967 as full professor for psychology and border areas of psychology, with parapsychology accounting for a quarter of the teaching. In 1975 Bender retired .

When Spiegel journalists discovered in 1977 that no copy of his medical dissertation could be found and that Bender was unable to provide evidence of a doctoral degree, the public prosecutor initiated proceedings for incorrect title use. The criminal investigation found that the title was wrongly used. A later doctorate with Manfred Müller-Küppers, with whom he had already worked in spooky cases, enabled Bender to obtain the academic degree Dr. med. respectively.

Research and Impact

Bender was trained in depth psychology and was mainly based on the approaches of Pierre Janet and Carl Gustav Jung . From this it follows on the one hand that he used qualitative rather than quantitative methods. On the other hand, he represented an animistic approach within parapsychology in contrast to the spiritistic approach, which in the context of this subject means that he interpreted paranormal phenomena not as interference by ghosts, but as a result of great psychological tension in the person who triggered the phenomenon, the so-called focus person . In this context, he combined experiments with sensitive people with studies of affective attitudes towards parapsychology and neurotic malpositions in relation to parapsychological phenomena.

A term coined by Bender is the so-called uniformity of the occult , i.e. the fact that phenomena such as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, spooky and psychokinesis have been reported from ancient times to the present in all epochs and in the most diverse cultures and regions of the world , while age, educational level and social status do not seem to play a role. Bender interpreted this as an argument that these phenomena are based on objective, if still unknown, properties of reality. In this possible uniformity of historical, cultural, geographical and personal experience, he saw evidence that the parapsychic phenomena are not ideas that have arisen and passed on only through myth and tradition, to which no objective reality corresponds, but rather individual, actual experiences of the individual, to which objective, albeit unknown, properties of reality would be the basis.

Another characteristic of his work was the close contact with astrologers, such as Thomas Ring , with whom he was close friends and from whom he received both personal and scientific astrological advice. In addition, he was convinced that his wife was in telepathic relationships with him. Not only did his specialist area and his close contact with the mass media bring him into criticism, but also his sometimes not always meticulous research, even in the eyes of his assistants, which, in case of doubt, led him to suspect something paranormal in seemingly inexplicable experiences. In 1982, for example, he prematurely declared the haunted Chopper , which a dental assistant in a practice in Neutraubling near Regensburg had manipulated, to the illustrated magazine Die Aktuell as real. On the other hand, before Chopper was unmasked, Bender pointed out that if he was really a paranormal phenomenon, it would be totally atypical.

His critics accused him of having overlooked manipulation attempts by his focus persons. In 1978, for example, the criminal director Herbert Schäfer from the State Criminal Police Office in Bremen obtained a confession from the focus person in the haunted case of Heinrich Scholz, which Bender declared in 1965 as genuine . The apprentice at a Bremen porcelain shop at the time would not only have deliberately manipulated all the spooky phenomena in the shop, but also during the subsequent examination in Bender's Freiburg laboratory. Bender's assistants countered with reports that were supposed to prove that at least some of the manipulations described by Scholz could not have taken place.

The problem of manipulation also exists in Bender's most famous haunted case, the haunted house of Rosenheim in a law firm in 1967 and 1968, which not only Bender and his employees, but also technicians from Post and the electricity company, police and physicists from the Max Planck Office Institute in Munich documented. Although the physicists stated in their report on the one hand that some of the phenomena determined by means of experimental physics could not be explained by theoretical physics, in one case the manipulation by the focus person, an office worker, could be proven. Bender and his assistants explain the manipulations in spooky cases that they recognize as genuine by the fact that the mentally often unstable focus persons help out when the real phenomena fail to remain in the center of interest.

Honors

Fonts (selection)

Essays
  • The occult as a problem of mental hygiene. In: New Science. Journal for border areas of mental life. Vol. 1 (1950), No. 3, pp. 34-42.
  • On the development of parapsychology from 1930–1950. In: Hans Driesch : Parapsychology. The science of the "occult" phenomena . 3. Edition. Rascher-Verlag, Zurich 1952, pp. 135–176.
  • Occultism as a spiritual danger. In: Maria Pfister-Ammende (Ed.): Geistige Hygiene. Research and danger (mental hygiene; 12). Schwabe Verlag, Basel 1955, pp. 489-499.
  • Precognition in the Qualitative Experiment. On the methodology of the “space experiments” with the sensitive Gerard Croiset. In: Journal for Parapsychology and Frontier Areas of Psychology. Vol. 1 (1957/58), ISSN  0028-3479 , pp. 5-35.
  • Parapsychic phenomena as a scientific borderline question. In: Freiburger Dies Universitatis. Vol. 6 (1957/58), pp. 59-84.
  • Mediumistic psychoses . A contribution to the pathology of spiritualistic practices. In: Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie , Vol. 2 (1958/1959), ISSN  0028-3479 , pp. 173-200.
  • On the question of the telepathic dream. In: Hans Thomae (Ed.): Report on the 22nd Congress of the German Society for Psychology. Publishing House for Psychology Hogrefe, Göttingen 1960, pp. 276–280.
  • “Precognition” in dream series I. In: Journal for Parapsychology and Frontier Areas of Psychology. Vol. 4 (1960/61), ISSN  0028-3479 , pp. 114-198 (together with Johannes Mischo ).
  • “Precognition” in dream series II. In: Journal for Parapsychology and Frontier Areas of Psychology. Vol. 5 (1961), ISSN  0028-3479 , pp. 10-47 (together with Johannes Mischo).
  • Forms of attitude to parapsychology. In: Journal for Parapsychology and Frontier Areas of Psychology. Vol. 7 (1964), ISSN  0028-3479 , pp. 85-92.
  • Astrology and superstition. In: New Science. Journal for border areas of mental life. Vol. 12 (1964), No. 1, pp. 1-23.
  • Erich Rothacker (1888-1965). In: Journal for Parapsychology and Frontier Areas of Psychology. Vol. 9 (1966), ISSN  0028-3479 , pp. 149f.
  • New developments in haunted research. In: Journal for Parapsychology and Frontier Areas of Psychology. Vol. 12 (1966), ISSN  0028-3479 , pp. 1-18.
  • Telepathy and clairvoyance as scientific borderline questions. In: Schopenhauer-Jahrbuch on the year 1967. Jg. 48 (1966), ISSN  0080-6935 , pp. 36-52.
  • A prosecutor in front of the "uncanny". In: Journal for Parapsychology and Frontier Areas of Psychology. Vol. 12 (1970), ISSN  0028-3479 , pp. 255-259 (together with Johannes Mischo).
  • Psychohygienic and forensic aspects of parapsychology. In: G. Condreau (Ed.): The Psychology of the 20th Century, Vol. 15 . Zurich 1979, pp. 651-672.
  • WHC Tenhaeff (1894-1981). In: Zeitschrift für Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie , Vol. 23 (1981), ISSN  0028-3479 , pp. 231-236.
  • A positive critic of superstition. In: Rosemarie Pilkington (Ed.): The Men and Women of Parapsychology. Personal reflections . McFarland Books, Jefferson, NC 1987, ISBN 0-89950-260-1 , pp. 114-118.
Monographs
  • Mental automatisms. On the experimental psychology of the subconscious and extra-sensory perception. Barth, Leipzig 1936 (also dissertation, University of Bonn 1933).
  • On the problem of extra-sensory perception. A contribution to the investigation of 'spatial clairvoyance' with laboratory methods. JA Barth, Leipzig 1936 (with a foreword by Erich Rudolf Jaensch )
  • Essays on parapsychology. Piper Verlag, Munich 1983.
  1. Telepathy, clairvoyance and psychokinesis . 1983, ISBN 3-492-00331-1 .
  2. Future visions, war prophecies, death experiences . 1983, ISBN 3-492-10246-8 .
  3. The hidden reality . 1985, ISBN 3-492-00477-6 .
  • Our sixth sense: telepathy, clairvoyance, spooky. Goldmann-Verlag, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-442-11724-7 .
  • Dealing with the occult. Aurum-Verlag, Freiburg / B. 1984, ISBN 3-591-08196-5 .
Editorships
  • Parapsychology. Development, results and problems. 4th edition. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1974, ISBN 3-534-00628-3 . (Paths of Research; 4)

literature

  • Eberhard Bauer : Hans Bender and the establishment of the “Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Hygiene”. In: Jürgen Jahnke et al. (Ed.): History of psychology. Relationships with philosophy and border areas. Profil, Munich et al. 1998, ISBN 3-89019-461-3 , pp. 461-476 ( Passauer Schriften zur Psychologiegeschichte 12), online resource .
  • Wolfgang Bock : Astrologers, commuters, dowsers and parapsychologists in the war. Three examples: First example: "Make the best of pounds entrusted to you and accept what is fateful." Parapsychology and astrology. Did the "Commission for the Review of Secret Sciences" exist in Strasbourg? in: Wolfgang Bock, Astrology and Enlightenment. About modern superstitions , Stuttgart: Metzler 1995, pp. 307-314.
  • Werner F. Bonin: Lexicon of parapsychology and its border areas. Scherz, Bern et al. 1976 (personal articles and articles on numerous investigations and haunted cases by Bender).
  • Elmar R. Gruber : Search in the limitless. Hans Bender - a life for parapsychology. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-462-02281-4 .
  • Frank-Rutger Hausmann : Hans Bender (1907–1991) and the “Institute for Psychology and Clinical Psychology” at the University of Strasbourg. 1941-1944. Ergon-Verlag, Würzburg 2006, ISBN 3-89913-530-X ( border crossings 4).
  • Walter von Lucadou : Psi phenomena. New results from psychokinesis research. Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1997, ISBN 3-458-33809-8 ( Insel-Taschenbuch 2109), (especially chapter 19).
  • Moragiannis, Janne: Parapsychology at the "Reichsuniversität Strasbourg": Hans Bender and the border science department at the "Institute for Psychology and Clinical Psychology", 1941–1944 . Editions Histoire & Anthropologie, Strasbourg 2003. ( Reprint from: Le Détour, Revue des Sciences Humaines. Nomades et Clandestins , nouvelle série - n ° 1/2003)
  • Herbert Schäfer: Poltergeister and professors. About the state of parapsychology. Fachschriften-Verlag Schäfer, Bremen 1994, ISBN 3-925730-18-4 .
  • Werner Schiebeler: The reputation of parapsychology in the German public and the opponents of everything paranormal. In: companion. Vol. 8, H. 3, 2004, ISSN  1430-7189 , pp. 5-21, online resource .
  • Thomas Miller:  BENDER, Hans. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 31, Bautz, Nordhausen 2010, ISBN 978-3-88309-544-8 , Sp. 82-89.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Second updated edition, Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 37.
  2. ^ Frank-Rutger Hausmann: Hans Bender (1907-1991) and the 'Institute for Psychology and Clinical Psychology' at the University of Strasbourg . Ergon Verlag, Würzburg 2006. p. 56.
  3. ^ Frank-Rutger Hausmann: Hans Bender (1907-1991) and the 'Institute for Psychology and Clinical Psychology' at the University of Strasbourg . P. 67.
  4. ↑ See A Case for Sherlock Holmes? SPIEGEL reporter Fritz Rumler on the Neutraublinger ghost "Chopper" , in: Der Spiegel 9/1982, p. 114. online
  5. ^ Herbert Schäfer: Poltergeister and Professors. About the state of parapsychology. 1994, p. 278.
  6. ↑ again in Zeitschrift für Psychologie. Vol. 135 (1939), ISSN  0233-2353 , pp. 20-130.
personal data
SURNAME Bender, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German psychologist, parapsychologist and doctor
DATE OF BIRTH February 5, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Freiburg in Breisgau
DATE OF DEATH May 7, 1991
Place of death Freiburg in Breisgau