Walter Jacobsen

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Walter Jacobsen 1965

Walter Jacobsen (born December 1, 1895 in Altona ; † June 1, 1986 in Hamburg ) was a German psychologist and founding member of the Professional Association of German Psychologists (BDP).

Life

Walter Jacobsen grew up in a merchant family that was also involved in business in Norway . From 1920 to 1926 Walter Jacobsen worked in his father's watch import business in Norway. He then began studying psychology at the University of Hamburg , which he completed in 1933 with a doctorate under William Stern shortly before his emigration . He had a son, Karl-Ernst (1921–1996) from his first marriage to Magda, geb. Deppe (1896-1955).

He took part in the First World War as an officer and after the war went to the Baltic as a volunteer to fight for the independence of the Baltic states, which were threatened by Soviet claims to power. He initially found work as a career counselor in employment offices in Hamburg, Harburg and Rostock , but was dismissed from service in 1936 - as it was called in Nazi jargon - "because of political unreliability". Walter Jacobsen had been a member of the German Democratic Party DDP since 1926 . Since 1934 Walter Jacobsen was a member of the “ Robinsohn-Strassmann-Gruppe ”, a Hamburg resistance group in which mainly DDP and SPD members worked. Jacobsen also belonged to the left-liberal resistance group Group Q , later the Free Hamburg group , around Friedrich Ablass . Jacobsen kept in touch between the Robinsohn-Strassmann-Gruppe and the Ablass-Gruppe until 1937.

Jacobsen was an employee at the Ergonomics Institute, AWI, the DAF until 1945 .

job

However, his precarious professional situation prompted him to emigrate to Stockholm in 1937 . There the opportunity arose to work again in the field of career counseling. In 1940, together with Maria Ruthquist, he founded an “Institute for Practical Psychology and Career Choice Questions”. The main focus was on the development of aptitude diagnostic procedures as a basis for career counseling. The institute soon had considerable difficulties in finding long-term sponsors for its work. The Swedish authorities caused him problems with the work permit, so he returned to Germany in February 1942 .

Jacobsen married Lilli, geb. Stief (1897-1992).

After the Second World War , Walter Jacobsen worked as a senior government councilor as an industrial psychologist and a suitability assessor for positions in the higher service.

Professional Association of German Psychologists (BDP)

Walter Jacobsen and Theodor Heuss, around 1950

As initiator and first chairman, Jacobsen belonged to the group of psychologists - mostly from Hamburg - who founded the professional association of German psychologists in 1946 . As a psychological expert he was appointed to the "Federal Center for Homeland Service" (later Federal Center for Political Education ). The psychological aspects of the political became more and more the central focus of work for Walter Jacobsen. Walter Jacobsen was always concerned with the educational implementation of psychological knowledge. His “Research Fund Psychology of Political Education” has been promoting political education projects since 1971 that can prove their relationship to psychology. Jacobsen was elected chairman when it was founded. On his initiative, the Political Psychology Section of the BDP was founded in 1958 . The research fund Psychology of Political Education he set up supports studies at the intersection of these two disciplines.

As initiator and first chairman, Walter Jacobsen played a key role in the creation of the BDP. In order to make all psychologist colleagues heard, he suggested the establishment of a registered association. While most of these participating “psychological practitioners” saw the new association as a professional interest group, Walter Jacobsen was interested in more: Psychology should make its contribution to the development of “conscious democrats” who immunize German citizens against propaganda and authoritarian thinking. Walter Jacobsen, however, had difficulties in enforcing this programmatic orientation for the BDP. In 1958, however, he finally succeeded in establishing an independent “Political Psychology” section within the professional association. His attempt to explain the field of work of the new section in the official association journal “Psychologische Rundschau”, however, failed because of the publisher's resistance. The fears that psychology could jeopardize its hard-won status as a “value-free” science if it interfered critically questioning and judging or examining political socialization, voter behavior and the psychological aspects of political decision-making processes were apparently still too great.

The Political Psychology Section

Jacobsen's idea of ​​a "political psychology" wanted to bring together psychologists who experienced themselves responsibly in the tradition of the Enlightenment and followed political developments with keen interest and commitment. Psychology “in an ivory tower” was alien to him. From the experiences of the Third Reich and emigration, he developed an idea of ​​“political psychology”, which was supposed to counter manipulation and indoctrination with its expert knowledge. Against political psychology from the perspective of domination ("How do I seduce the masses ..."), Walter Jacobsen set a psychology in the service of the critically committed citizen. With the establishment of an independent section in the BDP, he became the father and mentor of political psychology in the Federal Republic.

From 1963 to 1969 he was co-editor of the book series “Political Psychology”, each of which dealt with key areas that inevitably emerged in the period after the Nazi regime: authoritarianism , nationalism , prejudice, manipulation, all under the leitmotif “Never again dictatorship , never again political seduction! ”In the first volume of this book series, Walter Jacobsen tried in 1963 to define the scope of a political psychology, a challenge that he took up again in 1980 in his publication on the“ controversial term ”of the PP. After a few years of stagnation, this fruitful impulse was taken up again by Helmut Moser.

Research Fund "Psychology of Political Education"

“The research fund Psychology of Political Education serves the purpose of initiating necessary psychological research work in political education and supporting its implementation” (Statute); its founder is Walter Jacobsen, who describes himself in this statute (§ 2 (1)) as a "steward" of a "donor". He was probably this "donor" himself - he never admitted it. The fund is currently administered by the "German Association for Political Education". According to a decree by Walter Jacobsen, the trustee of the fund is his great-niece Birgit Kassovic "with all rights and obligations".

Walter Jacobsen Society

The WJG was founded in Hamburg in 1987. The Hamburg social psychologist Helmut Moser was the initiator and first chairman. In the preamble to the WJG statutes, it says: “To the legacy of Dr. To secure Walter Jacobsen permanently and to continue his life's work dedicated to political psychology and political education, the WALTER JACOBSEN-GESELLSCHAFT is founded ”. With its funds, the WJG supports projects, conferences and publications that deal with issues of political psychology. These include above all the annual workshop congresses of the BDP “Political Psychology” section, each of which deals with current topics (e.g. securing peace, homeland, environmental problems, technological consequences, corruption, etc.). In addition, the support from the WJG made it possible to publish the “Zeitschrift für Politische Psychologie” on a regular basis. Since 1988 the WJG has donated an annual contribution to the Olof Palme Peace Prize. The support of the Olof Palme Peace Prize results from the content, from the agreement of the goals of Olof Palme and Walter Jacobsen as well as the common democratic, enlightened tradition.

Honors

  • On the initiative of Helmut Moser (social psychologist at the University of Hamburg), the Walter Jacobsen Society was founded in 1987 to continue the life's work and legacy of the political psychology mentor who died in 1986.
  • The German Association for Political Education awards the Walter Jacobsen Prize .

Fonts (selection)

  • Individuality and social role , dissertation, Hamburg 1934 - Contribution of psychology to efforts towards political education, in: Psychologische Rundschau, 1956, booklet, pp. 225–230.
  • Lots of prejudices , in: Series of publications by the Federal Center for Homeland Service, 1957, issue 18.
  • Political Psychology - A series of publications , co-editors: Wanda von Baeyer-Katte, Gerhard Baumert, Theodor Scharmann, Heinz Wiesbrock; Editor: Klaus Dieter Hartmann, European Publishing House, Frankfurt 1963–1969
  • Is that 'political psychology'? , in: Wanda von Baeyer-Katte u. a. (Ed.): Political Psychology, Volume 1: Political Psychology as a Task of Our Time. Europäische-Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt 1963, pp. 9-16
  • Political psychology - a controversial term , in: Hartmann, KD (ed.): Political education and political psychology. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Munich 1980, pp. 73-81
  • Political psychology after the Nazi regime: coming to terms with the past and a new democratic beginning , in: Angela Schorr (Ed.): Report on the 13th Congress for Applied Psychology 1985, Vol. 1. Deutscher Psychologen Verlag, Bonn 1986, pp. 212-214
  • Bibliography Political Psychology 1945 - 1974 , Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg: Section Political Psychology in the BDP, 1985 (35 pages)

literature

  • Siegfried Preiser: Walter Jacobsen and Political Psychology in the Federal Republic of Germany - Some comments on their development and establishment: The mentor at the age of 90 , in: Angela Schorr (Ed.) Report on the 13th Congress for Applied Psychology, Vol. 1 , Deutscher Psychologen Verlag, Bonn 1986, pp. 215-219.
  • Horst Sassin: Liberals in the Resistance - The Robinsohn-Strassmann Group 1934-1942 . Christians Verlag, Hamburg 1993
  • Angela Schorr: The professional association of German psychologists , in: Helmut E. Lück and Rudolf Miller (eds.): Illustrated history of psychology, Quintessenz publishing house, Munich 1993, pp. 286–291.
  • Helmut E. Lück : History of Psychology. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 2011.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Brauers: The FDP in Hamburg 1945 - 1953. Start as a bourgeois left party , Munich 2007, pp. 103, 109
  2. ^ Karl Heinz Roth : Intelligence and Social Policy in the "Third Reich". P. 37
  3. ^ Walter Jacobsen Prize. In: dvpb.de. March 20, 2015, accessed April 9, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Jacobsen, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German psychologist and founding member of the BDP
DATE OF BIRTH December 1, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Altona
DATE OF DEATH June 1, 1986
Place of death Hamburg