Sonja Gerstner

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Sonja Gerstner (born June 13, 1952 in Berlin ; † March 8, 1971 there ) was a German painter and writer .

Life

Sonja Gerstner, the younger daughter of the GDR journalist Karl-Heinz Gerstner and the fashion journalist Sibylle Boden-Gerstner , founder of the GDR fashion magazine Sibylle , and sister Daniela Dahns , showed the first symptoms of a psychotic illness at the age of 17. Several stays in the closed acute psychiatric ward (with insulin coma and electroconvulsive therapy ) increased her helplessness and emotional isolation. Their attempts to make themselves understood were mostly ignored. Parents' demands for psychotherapeutic care were unsuccessful. Gerstner had difficulties in school / training, should part with her boyfriend on the advice of the doctors. After her third stay in hospital, she was released in December 1970. She moved into her own apartment but felt lonely and unable to live. On March 8, 1971, she put an end to her life. March 8, as International Women's Day, was one of the most prominent public holidays in the GDR .

Gravestone for Sonja Gerstner and her mother Sibylle Boden-Gerstner at the Kleinmachnow forest cemetery

After Sonja Gerstner's death, her mother published a much-noticed book under the pseudonym Sibylle Muthesius under the title Flucht in die Wolken about her daughter, which, in addition to texts, contains color reproductions of many of her pictures; It was published in the GDR in 1981, and a year later in the FRG. Exhibitions of the pictures and documents followed.

Works

Sonja Gerstner confided hopes and fears in her diary. She also wrote poems, songs and letters. Especially since the presumably first psychotic episode, her artistic talent has been expressed in surrealist-expressionist paintings and drawings.

“She was gifted in many ways, highly sensitive, extremely creative. These qualities justified Sonja Gerstner's hope of becoming a respectable artist. (...) In pictures, diaries, letters and poems, the distraught young woman tries to process her feelings and fears. Despite all inner hardships, her love for life, for people, wins first. "

A large number of Sonja Gerstner's paintings and drawings are on permanent loan in the Prinzhorn Collection of Heidelberg University ; they were handed over by the mother in 2007. Your diaries, letters and other texts are archived by the family.

Psychiatric historical significance

The fate of Sonja Gerstner formed the basis for what is probably the first, but definitely most popular book on psychiatry in the GDR, in which the situation in the psychiatric facilities is described quite authentically and treatment methods such as insulin coma therapy and electroconvulsive therapy, but also isolation (bunker ) are shown drastically in their effects on the patient.

“ Flucht in die Wolken (...) quickly advanced to a success book in the GDR due to the critical reflection of therapeutic practice, the sensitive portrayal of mental illness and the breaking of taboos, using the theories of Sigmund Freud and CG Jung to interpret mental illnesses in eight languages). "

"The book reveals that the misery in psychiatry is all German," said Spiegel in 1982 when the West German edition appeared.

Exhibitions

  • Pictures and texts by Sonja Gerstner. (LA Gallery, Leipzig, May / July 2004)
  • Psychiatry as reflected in a GDR cult book. ( Saxon Psychiatry Museum Leipzig, Sept./Dec. 2005)
  • The world rescue project. (Kulturverein Zehntscheuer Rottenburg, 2009) (participation)
  • Sexuality and Desire. ( Museum for Art and Cultural History Dortmund , 2010/2011) (participation)

Diary editing

  • Sibylle Muthesius: Escape into the clouds. Buchverlag Der Morgen, Berlin / GDR 1981. (A compilation of poems / song texts, excerpts from Sonjas Gerstner's diary and letters, reproductions of her paintings, memories and interpretations of her mother as well as references from her literature. Several, slightly different editions.)
  • Based on the book, a play of the same name by Heike Schmidt was created. It was premiered in the 1991/1992 season by the Uckermärkische Bühnen Schwedt . Ulrich Schroedter ( Takayo group ) set Sonja Gerstner's lyrics to music.

Father's autobiography

  • Karl-Heinz Gerstner: Objective, critical, optimistic. edition ost, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-932180-78-X .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wulf Skaun: Sonja Gerstner's Flight into the Clouds. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung, May 13, 2004.
  2. ↑ Prinzhorn Collection
  3. ↑ Thomas R. Müller: Flucht in die Wolken - An extraordinary chapter in the history of GDR psychiatry. In: Series of publications by the German Society for the History of Neurology. Edited by WJ Bock and B. Holdorff, Würzburg, Vol. 12 (2006), 427-439.
  4. ↑ Thomas R. Müller: Wahn und Sinn. Patients, doctors, staff and institutions of psychiatry in Saxony from the Middle Ages to the end of the 20th century. 2nd supplemented edition. Frankfurt am Main 2014.
  5. ↑ Bernd-Rainer Barth :  Gerstner, Sibylle . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  6. ↑ Deutsche Leiden , review in Der Spiegel 30/1982.
  7. ^ Sonja Gerstner: Exhibition Leipzig 2004
  8. ^ Sächsisches Psychiatriemuseum Leipzig ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.durchblick-ev.de
  9. ↑ The world rescue project
  10. ↑ Sexuality and longing  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: dead link / www.innenwelten-aussenwelten.de  
  11. ↑ Picture from the exhibition ( Memento of the original from August 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / lesefutter.en-a.de
  12. ↑ Hartmut Krug: Flott beside it. Uckermärkische Bühnen Schwedt: “Escape to the Clouds” by Heike Schmidt based on Sibylle Muthesius-Boden. In: Theater der Zeit , 12/1991.
personal data
SURNAME Gerstner, Sonja
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Muthesius, Sibylle (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter and writer
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 1971
Place of death Berlin