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2018 ; 9
(ä): 29
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Hans Asperger, National Socialism, and "race hygiene" in Nazi-era Vienna
#MMPMID29713442
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Mol Autism
2018[]; 9
(ä): 29
PMID29713442
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BACKGROUND: Hans Asperger (1906-1980) first designated a group of children with
distinct psychological characteristics as 'autistic psychopaths' in 1938, several
years before Leo Kanner's famous 1943 paper on autism. In 1944, Asperger
published a comprehensive study on the topic (submitted to Vienna University in
1942 as his postdoctoral thesis), which would only find international
acknowledgement in the 1980s. From then on, the eponym 'Asperger's syndrome'
increasingly gained currency in recognition of his outstanding contribution to
the conceptualization of the condition. At the time, the fact that Asperger had
spent pivotal years of his career in Nazi Vienna caused some controversy
regarding his potential ties to National Socialism and its race hygiene policies.
Documentary evidence was scarce, however, and over time a narrative of Asperger
as an active opponent of National Socialism took hold. The main goal of this
paper is to re-evaluate this narrative, which is based to a large extent on
statements made by Asperger himself and on a small segment of his published work.
METHODS: Drawing on a vast array of contemporary publications and previously
unexplored archival documents (including Asperger's personnel files and the
clinical assessments he wrote on his patients), this paper offers a critical
examination of Asperger's life, politics, and career before and during the Nazi
period in Austria. RESULTS: Asperger managed to accommodate himself to the Nazi
regime and was rewarded for his affirmations of loyalty with career
opportunities. He joined several organizations affiliated with the NSDAP
(although not the Nazi party itself), publicly legitimized race hygiene policies
including forced sterilizations and, on several occasions, actively cooperated
with the child 'euthanasia' program. The language he employed to diagnose his
patients was often remarkably harsh (even in comparison with assessments written
by the staff at Vienna's notorious Spiegelgrund 'euthanasia' institution),
belying the notion that he tried to protect the children under his care by
embellishing their diagnoses. CONCLUSION: The narrative of Asperger as a
principled opponent of National Socialism and a courageous defender of his
patients against Nazi 'euthanasia' and other race hygiene measures does not hold
up in the face of the historical evidence. What emerges is a much more
problematic role played by this pioneer of autism research. Future use of the
eponym should reflect the troubling context of its origins in Nazi-era Vienna.