Walther Poppelreuter

Walther Poppelreuter (in the literature also incorrectly written Walther Poppelreuther and Walter Poppelreuter ; * October 8, 1886 in Saarbrücken , † June 11, 1939 in Bonn ) was a German psychologist and neurologist. He mainly dealt with brain injuries of soldiers of the First World War and developed psychotechnical examination methods that were used in the treatment of brain-damaged patients and in industrial aptitude tests. He was one of the first university professors who openly campaigned for National Socialism even before the " seizure of power " .

Life

The son of a grammar school director first studied philosophy with special attention to experimental psychology in Berlin and received his doctorate in 1908 in Königsberg on the apparent shape and its influence by secondary stimuli . He then studied medicine and received his doctorate in 1914 at the Berlin Charité on the attempt to revise the psychophysiological theory of elementary association and reproduction . He went to the Cologne Psychiatric Clinic as Gustav Aschaffenburg's assistant and headed the Cologne fortress hospital for head injuries during the First World War .

In 1919 Poppelreuter completed his habilitation in Bonn for clinical psychology and took over the management of the newly founded Institute for Clinical Psychology - specialist station for German brain-injured war and work victims at the Provincial Sanatorium and Nursing Institution in Bonn . In 1922 he received an extraordinary professorship for clinical psychology at the University of Bonn . Poppelreuter's work on brain injuries earned him high professional recognition. He developed a number of psychotechnical research methods that were also used in industrial psychology and in career counseling . By approaching clinical issues with experimental psychological approaches, he became, according to Gereon R. Fink , a co-founder of neuropsychology . His clinical interest was in possible therapies for neuropsychological dysfunction.

Against his resistance, Poppelreuter's brain injury department was relocated to Düsseldorf in 1925 . The building of Poppelreuter's “brain injury institute” had been empty since 1924. Poppelreuter took a leave of absence in 1923/24 and turned to ergonomic questions at the Gelsenkirchen Mining Association . In 1925 he took over the management of the Institute for Work Psychology at the RWTH Aachen University and in 1928 founded a laboratory for industrial psychotechnology at the chair for industrial engineering led by Adolf Wallichs . Here he implemented the experience he had gained in integrating war invalids into the rationalization of work processes. Together with the chairman of the Association of West German Brain Injured People , Josef Braun, he tried to return the old building of his ward for injuries in Bonn, which was now used as a provincial children's institution for mentally abnormalities under the direction of Otto Löwenstein . Last but not least, the two organized a smear campaign with allegations of communist propaganda and embezzlement against Löwenstein.

In 1930 Poppelreuter accepted a call to Bonn. On November 1, 1931, he joined the NSDAP as the first university professor in Bonn (No. 695.703). He had previously been a member of the SPD and had also been a member of the Cologne city ​​council for a while. In the winter semester of 1931/32 he gave a series of lectures on political psychology as applied psychology based on Hitler's work " Mein Kampf " , which he published in 1934 under the title Hitler, the political psychologist . In July 1932 Hitler had informed him in writing that he was happy that his book would be the subject of a lecture at a university for the first time. Poppelreuter worked for the NSDAP as a provincial member of the state parliament in Düsseldorf and advisor to the Reich leadership of the NSDAP . From June 1, 1932, he was also a member of the Nazi teachers' association in the role of administrator . On March 4, 1933, the Bonner General-Anzeiger published a call for Adolf Hitler by fourteen Bonn university teachers, initiated by Poppelreuter and Walter Blumenberg .

On March 8, 1933, around 80 SA people attacked Löwenstein's children's department in Bonn. Löwenstein was to be taken into protective custody, but had been warned by telephone and fled. Löwenstein suspected Poppelreuter as the instigator behind the action. Poppelreuter took over provisional management of the children's institution and soon after of the psychological university institute. He also set up his institute for clinical psychology in the old building.

During the Nazi era, Poppelreuter worked as an advisor to the German Institute for National Socialist Technical Labor Research and Training in Düsseldorf. In Bonn he was the deputy chairman of the German Society for Psychology . Shortly before his death, professional and party judicial proceedings were initiated against him for alcohol abuse and reprehensible means in a divorce dispute.

Honors and criticism

In his honor, the Association of German Brain Damaged People awarded the Walther Poppelreuter Medal after World War II . In addition, houses and streets were named after him. Poppelreuter's Nazi past only became public awareness with the publication of a book on child euthanasia in the children's institution in Bonn. In 1990 Hannelore Kohl returned the Poppelreuter Medal she had been awarded in 1986. As a result, streets in Oldenburg and Koblenz and a rehabilitation clinic named after Poppelreuter were renamed Vallendar .

In 2003, the Aachen neurologist Gereon R. Fink published a text in the journal Der Nervenarzt which rated Poppelreuter's medical work as "not to be rated highly enough". Peter Frommelt, Linda Orth and Ralf Forsbach criticized Fink for not considering Poppelreuter's National Socialist convictions and his behavior towards Löwenstein in his appreciation .

In the Ostheim district of Cologne there was a Poppelreuter-Strasse named after Walther Poppelreuter since 1957 . Due to Poppelreuter's past during the National Socialist era, the street should be renamed, also at the request of Otto Löwenstein's descendants. The streets named after Poppelreuter in Mainz and Paderborn had already been renamed. A solution was found, after which the street was renamed Josef-Poppelreuter-Straße , after the first director of the Roman department of the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne .

Fonts

• About the apparent shape and how it is influenced by secondary stimuli. G. Schade, Berlin 1909 (printed in much abbreviated form; Königsberg, Universität, phil. Dissertation of June 16, 1909).
• Experiences and suggestions for headshot disability care. Heuser, Neuwied et al. 1915; extended 2nd edition as: Tasks and organization of the care for the brain injured (= Deutsche Krüppelhilfe. Vol. 2, ZDB -ID 532240-6 ). Voss, Leipzig 1916.
• On the attempt to revise the psychophysiological doctrine of elementary association and reproduction. In: Monthly magazine for psychiatry and neurology . Vol. 37, No. 5, 1915, pp. 278-288, doi : 10.1159 / 000191004 , (Berlin, Universität, Dissertation, 1915; also: Karger, Berlin 1915).
• The psychological damage caused by a shot in the head in the war of 1914/17. With special consideration of patho-psychological, educational, commercial and social relationships. 2 volumes. Voss, Leipzig 1917-1918;
  • Volume 1: The disorders of the lower and higher visual performance due to injuries to the occipital brain.
  • Volume 2: The reduction in physical performance and willingness to work due to brain injury compared to normal and psychogenic.
• The work show clock. A contribution to practical psychology. from Wendt & Klauwell, Langensalza 1918
• General methodological guidelines for practical psychological assessment. Kröner, Leipzig 1923.
• Scientific assessment of workers and employees in large companies. In: The human labor in the production process. Three lectures, given at the joint meeting of the technical committees of the Association of German Ironworkers in Bonn on May 24, 1925. Verlag Stahleisen, Düsseldorf 1925, pp. 10-14.
• Psychological assessment of the disabled. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Berlin et al. 1928.
• Time study and operational monitoring in the work diagram. Oldenbourg, Munich 1929.
• Industrial psychological principles for the timekeeper. Oldenbourg, Munich et al. 1929.
• Psychocritical pedagogy. To overcome pseudo-knowledge, pseudo-ability, pseudo-thinking, etc. Beck, Munich 1933.
• Hitler, the political psychologist (= Friedrich Mann's pedagogical magazine. H. 1391, ZDB -ID 505477-1 ). Beyer, Langensalza 1934.
• with Josef Mathieu : "Robinson educates!" DINTA Robinson courses for the simplest training of manual skills (= series of publications by the German Institute for National Socialist Technical Work Research and Training ). Society for Work Education, Düsseldorf 1935.
• Disturbances of lower and higher visual capacities caused by occipital damage. With special reference to the psychopathological, pedagogical, industrial, and social implications (= History of Neuroscience. Vol. 2). Clarendon Press, Oxford 1990, ISBN 0-19-852190-1 .

literature

• Ralf Forsbach : The Medical Faculty of the University of Bonn in the “Third Reich”. R. Oldenbourg, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-486-57989-4 .
• Georg Lamberti: Psychotechnology in the twenties of the 20th century. In: Georg Lamberti (Hrsg.): Intelligence on the test stand: 100 years of psychometry. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-525-46241-7 , pp. 41-58.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Georg Lamberti: Psychotechnology in the twenties of the 20th century. In: Georg Lamberti (Hrsg.): Intelligence on the test stand: 100 years of psychometry. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-525-46241-7 , p. 49.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Ralf Forsbach: The Medical Faculty of the University of Bonn in the "Third Reich". R. Oldenbourg, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-486-57989-4 , p. 225.
3. ↑ Georg Lamberti: Psychotechnology in the twenties of the 20th century. In: Georg Lamberti (Hrsg.): Intelligence on the test stand: 100 years of psychometry. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-525-46241-7 , p. 51 f.
4. ^ Gereon R. Fink : Walter Poppelreuter (1886–1939). Notes on the cover picture. In: The neurologist . Vol. 74 (2003), p. 540.
5. ↑ Linda Orth: Walter Poppelreuter. In: The neurologist . Vol. 75 (2004), p. 609 f.
6. ↑ 50 years of research at the FIR + IAW network - RR + IAW has been developing the fundamentals of operational innovation since 1953 ( memento of the original from June 18, 2007 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. (PDF; 2 MB). 
7. ^ ^{A b c} Ralf Forsbach: The Medical Faculty of the University of Bonn in the "Third Reich". R. Oldenbourg, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-486-57989-4 , p. 348.
8. ↑ Georg Lamberti: Psychotechnology in the twenties of the 20th century. In: Georg Lamberti (Hrsg.): Intelligence on the test stand: 100 years of psychometry. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-525-46241-7 , p. 50.
9. ↑ Othmar Plöckinger: History of a Book: Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf". 1922-1945. Oldenbourg, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-486-57956-8
10. ^ Reference to the entry in Löwenstein's diary about the events of March 10, 1933 ( Memento of June 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
11. ↑ ^{a b} Linda Orth: Walter Poppelreuter. In: The neurologist . Vol. 75 (2004), p. 610.
12. ^ Gereon R. Fink: Walter Poppelreuter (1886–1939). Notes on the cover picture. In: The neurologist . Vol. 74 (2003), p. 541.
13. ^ Peter Frommelt: Walter Poppelreuter. Letter to the editor on the contribution by GR Fink . In: The neurologist . Vol. 74 (2003), p. 1137.
14. ↑ Linda Orth: Walter Poppelreuter. In: The neurologist . Vol. 75 (2004), p. 609 f.
15. ↑ A Nazi as namesake. Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, December 27, 2012, accessed on November 11, 2013 . 
16. ^ Minutes of the 31st meeting of the Kalk district council in the 2009/2014 electoral period. City of Cologne, April 25, 2013, accessed on December 14, 2015 . 
17. ↑ Today's steel institute VDEh .

Web links

• Literature by and about Walther Poppelreuter in the catalog of the German National Library