Herbert Winkler

Herbert Winkler (born June 18, 1896 in Leipzig ; † October 26, 1946 there ) was a German psychologist.

Live and act

Gottfried Robert Herbert Winkler passed the emergency maturity examination at the secondary school in his hometown during the First World War in October 1915 and was immediately assigned to the Western Front . He was a participant in the fights a. a. in Flanders and on the Somme . The reserve lieutenant was awarded several medals and decorations for his achievements . In addition to the Iron Cross II. Class, he received the Friedrich August Medal in silver, the Cross for Merit in War and the Knight's Cross II. Class of the Albrecht Order . After the war he majored in psychology at the University of Leipzig . He completed his studies in 1921 with a doctorate. The topic of his dissertation was: “The monotony of work. A contribution to the problem of psychological behavior with uniform physical work ”. A year later he still passed the state examination for the "higher teaching post". He then worked as a teacher at various Leipzig high schools and was involved as a research assistant in the "Psychological Institute of the Leipzig Teachers' Association". From April 1928 to September 30, 1930 he had a job as a specialist psychologist at the Berlin “Central Research and Training Institute for Cripple Care” of the “Oscar Helene Home”, where he worked closely with Konrad Biesalski and above all Hans Würtz .

His monograph “Psychological Development and Crippling” is based on the experiences he made in the “Oscar-Helene-Heim”. On the basis of empirical studies, the psychologist found that frail children were considerably behind in terms of their imaginative ability to interpret as well as their powers of observation. With regard to memory, he came to the conclusion that children with a physical disability are almost the same as healthy ones. Spatial-constructive thinking clearly predominates in many “cripples”. In contrast, the conceptual reasoning test did not reveal any significant difference between non-frail and frail children:

"As far as differences in favor of physically handicapped children were found, they are due to external influences in a completely normal, mental and spiritual life" .

In accordance with these findings, one cannot speak of a uniform “cripple soul”, as Hans Würtz postulated in his many publications. The associated negative character judgments affect the physically disabled more than their actual disability. Especially young disabled children and their emotional development are damaged if they are seen as inferior in character. This means:

"The physical handicap alone cannot establish a pathological condition of the mental life" .

Returning to Leipzig, Herbert Winkler took over the management of the city's "School Psychological Testing Center". In 1941 he was obliged to do “aptitude tests” and later assigned to the special department for the care of the brain injured.

Herbert Winkler was married to Anna Maria Thomas since 1926. The marriage had two children.

Works (selection)

• Test series for examining school newcomers, Leipzig 1922
• The monotony of work. A contribution to the problem of psychological behavior with uniform physical work, Leipzig 1922
• The conspicuous child. Instructions for observation and marking, with educational advice, Leipzig 1927
• Intelligence tests on cripple children, in: Zeitschrift für Krüppelfürsorge, Vol. 20, 1927, 1-4
• The mental and emotional development of the physically frail child, in: Report on the Fifth Congress for Curative Education in Cologne, Munich 1921, pp. 501–503
• Psychological development and crippling, in: Zeitschrift für Krüppelfürsorge, Vol. 24, pp. 265–268
• Psychological development and crippling, Leipzig 1931

literature

• Marie-Luise Bergè: Life and work of the "cripple psychologist" Herbert Winkler (1896-1946). A contribution to the historiography of pedagogy for the disabled, Leipzig 2005 (unpublished diploma thesis)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bergè 2005, p. 135
2. ↑ Bergè 2005, p. 136
3. ↑ Bergè 2005, p. 137