POLITICAL THINKING

Es ist ein schwarz-weißes Foto. Es zeigt eine Menschenansammlung auf einem Platz. Im Hintergrund sind vier Fahnenstangen mit Hakenkreuzfahnen. In der ersten Reihe stehen vier uniformierte SA-Männer. Hinter ihnen stehen Lüneburger unterschiedlichen Alters und Geschlechts, auch viele Kinder und Jugendliche. Sie blicken freudig nach vorne in die Kamera. Einige von ihnen haben den rechten Arm zum Hitlergruß erhoben.

MTV-Platz, 20.7.1932.

ArML 4H046.

There was a high level of support for National Socialism in Lüneburg. Many Lüneburgers were supporters of the so-called »movement«. All areas of life were permeated by National Socialist thinking. This prepared the ground for the later crimes.

It is a black and white photo. It shows a speaker's platform decorated with flowers. A young Adolf Hitler stands in front of a microphone with his arms folded and speaks. Behind him sit several men, including Wilhelm Wetzel and Otto Telschow. They all look very serious. Adolf Hitler and Otto Telschow are wearing a swastika armband. Three swastika flags are attached to a beam. The grandstand is covered.

Adolf Hitler (left) in the stands of the MTV sports ground. Also in the picture are the later Gauleiter Otto Telschow (right) and the later Lord Mayor Wilhelm Wetzel (left of Telschow), 20 July 1932.

StadtALg BS 44422.

Eleven days before the Reichstag elections, Adolf Hitler visited Lüneburg on 20 July 1932 and spoke in the stands of the MTV sports ground. The NSDAP became the strongest party in the election with 39.9 per cent. It was almost ten per cent below the result for the Hanover provincial constituency, but two per cent above the national average.

It was claimed that 20,000 men and women had come to the election rally to hear Adolf Hitler. This corresponded to the population of the city of Lüneburg at the time. In reality, many benches remained empty. It is possible that many Lüneburg residents did not want to pay the entrance fee for the event.

It is a black and white photo. It shows the election campaign event from a distance. The photo was taken from an upper floor of the neighbouring residential buildings. It shows the sports field surrounded by a wall. The speaker's platform is in the background. Many of the benches are empty. Many people are standing in front of the wall outside the sports field as onlookers. A few are standing on a platform in front of the wall and can see over it. The SA are lined up in two rows on the pitch, at a distance from the visitors.

StadtALg BS 29425 r.

On display is a page from a tear-off calendar. It is printed in black and white and has yellowed. It is the page for the last three days of February 26, 27 and 28. It shows a photo portrait of Gauleiter Otto Telschow. He is wearing a uniform and his grey hair is parted and combed back severely. He has a strong chin and a small moustache. He is smiling and looking out of the picture to the left.

Tear-off calendar, February page with Otto Telschow, 1938.

USHMM.

Harburg was incorporated into the city of Hamburg in 1937 under the Hamburg Metropolitan Area Act. The administration of the Gau Ost-Hannover moved to Lüneburg. Gauleiter Otto Telschow’s birthday was 27 February, which is why his portrait is the February page of a tear-off calendar that the party issued once in 1938 for the year 1939. The other pages featured Heinrich Himmler (October calendar page) and Adolf Hitler (April calendar page), among others.

OTTO TELSCHOW (1876 – 1945)

Otto Telschow was born in Wittenberge. His parents were Marie and Wilhelm Telschow. After a military career with the Wandsbek Hussar Regiment (Hamburg), he was a policeman until the beginning of the First World War. During the war he became an inspector for military hospitals. He was married twice and had a son with Hildegard Telschow from his second marriage.

After the First World War, he continued his career with the Hamburg police until his dismissal in 1924. As district leader of the radical right-wing Deutschvölkische Freiheitspartei, he was politically unacceptable. He joined the NSDAP in 1925 and was promoted to Gauleiter in the same year. He held this office until 1945.

It is a black-and-white photograph of four men in uniform wearing high leather boots and wide belts around their waists. They are wearing uniform caps and various medals. The man in front, who is very heavy, is Otto Telschow. He and the man behind him have their hands clasped behind their backs. One of them is wearing gloves. They are standing in front of the façade of Lüneburg Town Hall. The picture shows them from the side. There are pine branches at the bottom of the picture. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Otto Telschow at the height of his power in front of Lüneburg Town Hall, around 1936, photographer Friedrich Johns.

Archive of the Lüneburger Landeszeitung.

It is a black-and-white postcard with a white-bordered photo of Otto-Telschow-Straße in Zeven. The street is lined with tall trees on one side. On the other side are two-storey half-timbered houses. Printed on the side is: Zeven (Hann.) climatic health resort. Otto-Telschow-Straße.

Postcard, Otto Telschow-Straße in Zeven, 1942.

ArEGL 99.

In 1928, the Gau Lüneburg-Stade was expanded to become the Gau Ost-Hannover. In the same year, Otto Telschow founded the weekly newspaper »Lower Saxony striker«. He became a member of the state parliament in 1929 and a member of the Reichstag from 1930 to 1945. He was therefore a leading Nazi.

From 1937, his district headquarters were located at Schießgrabenstraße 8/9 in Lüneburg. In the same year, the »Otto-Telschow-City« was built in Bremerhaven (now the Surheide district), a housing estate with 175 houses. Many streets were also named after Otto Telschow.

For his many years of loyalty, Adolf Hitler gave him the Lopau estate, which Telschow moved into with his family in 1942. In 1944, he failed as Reich Defence Commissioner. He was not up to the task.

It is a yellowed sheet of paper with a typewritten letter to the registry office of the mayor of Lüneburg. The letter contains two short paragraphs about the deceased: 1) Heinrich Himmler and 2) Otto Telschow, both of whom committed suicide. Heinrich Himmler is said to have died of cyanide poisoning, while Otto Telschow slit his wrists and also took poison. It is a translation from English into German and is signed by Lieutenant Colonel Harper. The letter contains notes on the translation and a stamp from the military registry office.

Telschow and Heinrich Himmler in Lüneburg by Headquarters 905, E. M. Harper, British Army of the Rhine, 24 April 1947.

StadtALg PSLG-S 121.

The British Army tracked Telschow down in a hunting lodge near Dahlenburg in May 1945. He had attempted suicide there. He was treated in Lüneburg Hospital and picked up by British Army soldiers on 30 May 1945. He made another suicide attempt, to which he succumbed on 31 May 1945. He was buried on the same day at Lüneburg Central Cemetery. The location of his grave is unknown.

It is a black-and-white photograph with a white border. The photograph shows the Baroque façade of Lüneburg Town Hall. Two large banners with swastikas hang from the façade. Large banners in the middle of the façade and at the top of the town hall's bell tower bear the slogans »On 10 April. YES!« and »Yes to the Führer«. The town hall clock shows one o'clock in the afternoon. A black car is parked in front of the town hall. Swastika flags hang from several flagpoles in front of the town hall. The market square in front of the town hall is deserted. In the background, you can see today's district court, which is also decorated with swastika banners and garlands.

Rathaus Lüneburg, 1938.

StadtALg BS 4085.

The NSDAP was the only party running in the Reichstag elections on 10 April 1938. Lüneburg’s town hall Am Markt became a large advertising space. The election was accompanied by a subsequent referendum on the unification of Austria with the German Reich.

It is a colour photograph of Große Bäckerstraße in Lüneburg. On the right-hand side of the picture, you can see the Ratsapotheke pharmacy, opposite which is a medical supply store. In the middle, there is a cobbled roadway. There is a narrow pavement on each side of the street, which is lined with shops. The pavements are bustling with people. A black car is parked on the street. Two men are standing halfway in the street, one of them smoking. The street is decorated with garlands and pennants. Large swastika flags hang everywhere on the facades of the houses.

Große Bäckerstraße Lüneburg, without date.

StadtALg BS 44321.

The NSDAP and National Socialist thinking were omnipresent. Many Lüneburgers joined in. Even Große Bäckerstraße was flagged with swastika flags at every opportunity as a symbol of the »movement«.

The Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls were NSDAP organisations. There were leisure activities for healthy and well-adjusted children and young people. Uniforms were worn, songs were sung, community and traditions were cultivated. Girls and boys also learnt how to fight and survive in nature.

It is a black-and-white photograph. It shows the schoolyard of the Wilhelm Raabe School. It is summer. Three large white tents stand in the courtyard in front of the building façade. Two girls stand in front of each tent. Flags have been put up. A large group of girls are sitting in a long row in the courtyard. They are wearing girls' uniforms: a white short-sleeved shirt, a white skirt and a dark scarf. Only a few girls are wearing summer dresses instead of uniforms. Three young women are standing in the foreground. They are walking among the group and are also wearing uniforms. These consist of a dark skirt, a white short-sleeved shirt and a dark scarf.

Event organised by uniformed girls in the schoolyard of the Wilhelm Raabe School. BDM annual meeting, after 1938.

StadtALg BS 47906 r.

REVALUATE AND DEVALUE

A side effect of the modern meritocracy is that physical and mental health are highly valued. Natural science gave rise to the theory of heredity, which was applied to humans. As early as the end of the 19th century, this led to the development of »racial science«, »eugenics« and »racial hygiene«. For many decades, they determined the way people thought about the diseased. The National Socialists also made this their basis.

It is a poster with an illustration. It shows a tree trunk with roots and the outline of a tree crown. The roots of the tree are labelled with various sciences, such as biology, history and psychology. Above the tree crown is a banner with the word »Eugenics« written on it. Around the tree is the slogan »Eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution«. This is followed by a description of the congress with the signatures of the organisers.

AWM, Canavan, Myrtelle M. papers, 1898-1945. GA 10.20.

Eugenics formed the scientific basis for the National Socialists‘ thinking. Eugenics pursued the goal of positively influencing human evolution as a »super science« by overcoming diseases and disabilities and increasing human abilities and performance. This was recognised internationally, particularly in the USA.

Various specialisms were incorporated into eugenics. This is symbolised by the logo of the Second International Eugenics Congress. Document signed by Henry Fairfield Osborn and Harry Hamilton Laughlin, September 1921.

It is a black-and-white photograph. It shows a gymnast on the uneven bars. She is wearing a light-coloured, sleeveless leotard with shorts. She has short hair (a »bob«). The woman is doing a handstand on the apparatus with great body tension and her feet stretched out. Her body is athletic and graceful.

The picture shows Paula Pöhlsen, 1st winner in Stuttgart in 1933, doing a handstand on the uneven bars in the courtyard of the MTV hall in Lüneburg at the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament in autumn 1935.

StadtALg,BS, XX-MTV-Treubund-1044.

The National Socialists reinterpreted »eugenics« in ethnic terms. A supposed »Aryan race« was considered superior. People who did not belong to this »master race« in the eyes of the National Socialists were devalued. This included Jews in particular, but also people from lower social classes, offenders, dissidents, the sick and people with disabilities.

It is a black-and-white photograph. It shows a sports field. It is filled with hundreds of men doing identical physical exercises in rows. They are stretching their legs. In a bent position, both arms are on the ground. The left leg is between the hands. The right leg is stretched out behind. Almost all of the men are wearing white shorts and white sleeveless shirts. Spectators can be seen at the edge of the picture. There are eight flagpoles, one of which flies the swastika flag.

Open exercises on the sports field at the first district gymnastics festival in Winsen on 1 July 1934.

StadtALg, BS, XX-MTV-Treubund-1024.

At the centre of National Socialist thinking was the
creation of a »healthy, pure-blooded national body«. In the course of the gymnastics movement after 1850, there was already an awareness of the importance of maintaining a healthy body through sport. Under National Socialism, health care became a cult of the body with the aim of strengthening the »Aryan race«.

In order to convince as many people as possible of their ideas, racial biologists relied on intensive propaganda. They did not shy away from deception and exaggeration.

It is a black-and-white poster of a drawing with a statistical appearance. It is titled »The danger of the increased reproduction of the inferior«. Two families are depicted. On the left is a family consisting of parents with two children. They appear healthy and strong, middle class. On the right is a second family. It consists of parents with four children. This family appears sick and poor. Below both families are family trees. In the left-hand family, there are only two babies in each generation. It is written that each couple would only have two children. There should be four children, but only two are drawn. The number of children in the family on the right, on the other hand, increases proportionally from generation to generation. All of the children belonging to the supposedly hereditarily diseased family are drawn with crooked legs. Underneath the drawing it says: Without taking into account losses due to death, celibacy, childlessness and so on.

»The danger of a greater increase in the number of inferiors« from »Volk und Rasse«, Oktober 1936.

Bavarian State Library Munich | Picture Archive.

This is an exhibition picture of the »Reichsnährstand«. It is supposed to prove that healthy Germans are dying out. But the calculation is wrong.

Spending money on people in need of care was seen as »anti-social«. Those affected were devalued as »useless parasites«.

It is a poster in different shades of orange. It is a collage. It shows a nurse and his patient. The lettering reads: "60000 Reichsmark is the cost of this hereditary patient to the national community for life. Volksgenosse that's your money too. Read Neues Volk. The monthly magazines of the NSDAP's Racial Policy Office." The nurse wears a bright white shirt with dark trousers and smiles mildly. He places a hand on the patient's shoulder. The patient sits on a chair in front of his carer in a cramped posture, crooked and unstable. The head is tilted. The patient looks grim and has his eyes closed.

Poster for the monthly magazine »Neues Volk« of the NSDAP’s Racial Policy Office for the propagation of eugenics and »euthanasia«. German Reich around 1937.

bpk | German Historical Museum | Arne Psille.

It is a poster in shades of yellow and red. It is a screen print. In the centre is a young farmer standing upright, looking powerful as he sows seeds. He seems to glow against the yellow background. Above and below him is the text: »Only healthy seeds must be sown. Check the seeds for hereditary disease and fitness through eugenics.«

Poster of the Eugenics Society, Haywood Norfolk, Great Britain, around 1935.

Instytut Galtona/Archiv der Eugenics Society, Biblioteka Instytutu Wellcome.

There was also propaganda in favour of eugenics in other countries around the world. This is shown by the example from Great Britain.

»Only healthy seed may be sown«.

The postcard advertises that marriages should only be entered into with eugenically sound partners. Eugenics certificate. USA, around 1924.

Robert Bogdan Collection. Medical Historical Library, Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, Yale University.

It is a signed certificate with a seal. In addition to a short text, the certificate shows a blissful-looking bride in a veil and wedding dress and a happy groom in a suit and white shirt with a bow tie in a circular emblem. Underneath the emblem is written: »The Eugenic Ideal«. Below that is a red seal. The »Eugenic Certificate« certifies: »This guarantees that I have examined the sender of this card and find a perfect physical and mental balance and unusually strong eugenic love possibilities, well suited to promote the happiness and future welfare of the race.«

Robert Bogdan Collection. Medical Historical Library, Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, Yale University.

It is a black-and-white poster. In the centre are a man and a woman. The woman is looking down at a baby she is holding in her arms. The man is standing behind them. His upper body is naked and looks powerful. His arms are stretched out in front of him to the right and left of the woman. He is holding a large shield, about waist height. The shield reads: »Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases in Offspring of 14 July 1933«. Behind the three people, the German Reich can be seen within its borders at that time. To their left are the national flags of the USA, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland with various dates underneath. Above them is written: »Similar laws exist in these countries«. Below the figures are the national flags of Hungary, England, Switzerland, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Japan. Next to them is written: »The following countries are considering similar protection.« At the top of the poster is written in large letters: »We are not alone.«

Poster for the monthly magazine »Neues Volk« of the NSDAP’s Racial Policy Office for the propagation of eugenics and »euthanasia«. German Reich around 1936.

Berlin State Library.

Many countries had »racial hygiene« laws. Other countries thought about it. Both were used by the National Socialists for their propaganda.

From 1933 onwards, exhibitions and films were made in Germany to convince people with disabilities and illnesses that they were worthless. During the war, the killing of people with disabilities was also covered in films.

It is a sheet of paper with black typewriter text. The page is perforated at the edge and densely written. The paragraphs are numbered consecutively. In the middle of the page, a new chapter of the script begins with the title »Die Erlösung« (The Redemption). This is followed by a description of the procedure for killing the sick. Under 9. it says »Bathroom«, meaning the gas chamber. At the bottom right, typed in typewriter, is Herman Schweninger and the date 25 October 1942. Above the date is the stamped number 127350.

Page from the screenplay »Dasein ohne Leben« from 25 October 1942.

BArch R 96 I-8 p. 45.

For the documentary film »Existence without life« (1942) by Hermann Schweninger, the script envisages showing the gassing of people with disabilities in the scene »Die Erlösung« (The Redemption). The scene with the murder of people by gas was actually filmed in the Pirna-Sonnenstein killing centre.

The feature film »I accuse« was released in cinemas in 1941. Many people saw it. The film was based on the novel »Mission and Conscience« (1936) by Hellmuth Unger, who later planned and prepared the »child euthanasia«.

It is a hand-drawn, coloured film poster. In the foreground is a serious-looking man of mature age wearing a dark suit. Above his upper body, the film title »Ich klage an« (I Accuse) is written in red letters. In the background, a doctor in a white coat with a Hitler moustache and a sick woman lying in bed can be seen in pale colours. The doctor leans towards the woman, both looking at each other seriously.

Kinoplakat »I accuse«, 1941.

German Film Institute & Film Museum.

It is a paperback. The paperback cover is brown and white. Below the author's name is a brown block of colour in which the book title »Sendung und Gewissen Roman« (Mission and Conscience Novel) can be read in three different fonts. Below the brown block, in brown lettering on a white background, is the following text: »The work of a poet of exquisite sensitivity and deep love of nature. At the same time, a fanfare for a burning contemporary issue: whether a doctor, by virtue of his profession, has the right to relieve a hopelessly suffering person through mercy killing.« The book is well-thumbed.

Hellmuth Unger: Mission and conscience. Oldenburg 1936.

ArEGL 183.

The novel published in 1936 »Mission and conscience« by Hellmuth Unger was the basis for the propaganda film »I accuse«.

It is a small book. It resembles a notebook in A5 format. On the dark blue cover, there is a label in the centre with the book title »Die Freigabe der Vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens. Ihr Maß und ihre Form« (The Approval of the Destruction of Life Unworthy of Life. Its Measure and Form) in Gothic script. The words »Approval for the Destruction of Life Unworthy of Life« are highlighted in enlarged font. The label also bears the names of the two authors, including their academic titles, with a note indicating that they are professors.

»The release of the destruction of life unworthy of life. Its measure and form« by Karl Binding and Alfred Hoche, 1920.

ArEGL 181.

In this book, criminal law professor Karl Binding and psychiatrist Alfred Hoche were the first to justify the non-punishable killing of patients and people with disabilities. They labelled them as so-called »Ballast existences« and considered it right to use them in favour of the Community »to redeem« resp. to assassinate him. What was only a pipe dream in 1920 became reality 20 years later.

»But not to grant the incurable, who longs for death, redemption through gentle death is no longer compassion, but its opposite.« (p. 38)

»In economic terms, therefore, these complete idiots […] would be those whose existence weighs most heavily on the community. […] In the case of the killing of a mentally dead person who […] is unable […] to lay claim to […] life, the subjective claim is therefore not violated either.« (p. 50 | 51)

It is a black-and-white photographic portrait of Alfred Hoche, who is middle-aged. He has slicked-back hair, a wavy beard and is looking into the camera. Underneath a jacket made of coarse fabric, a waistcoat with a small pattern and a light-coloured shirt can be seen. His head is tilted slightly to the right and his gaze is calm and friendly.

Alfred Hoche, around 1935.

From: Contemporary medicine in self-portrayals, Leipzig, 1923.

It is a black-and-white photographic portrait of Karl Binding, now grey-haired, taken from the side. His hair is combed back, he has a trimmed full beard and is looking away to the side. In addition to a dark jacket, he is wearing a light-coloured shirt with a waistcoat and a large dark bow tie.

Karl Binding, around 1909.

Institute for City History Frankfurt am Main (ISG FFM), ISG FFM S7P No. 1245, photographer Georg Brakesch.

ALFRED HOCHE (1865 – 1943)

It is a black-and-white photographic portrait of Karl Binding, now grey-haired, taken from the side. His hair is combed back, he has a trimmed full beard and is looking away to the side. In addition to a dark jacket, he is wearing a light-coloured shirt with a waistcoat and a large dark bow tie.

Alfred Hoche, around 1923.

From: Contemporary medicine in self-portrayals, Leipzig, 1923.

Alfred Hoche was a psychiatrist. He came from Wildenhain near Torgau (Saxony) and came from a family of Christian pastors. He married Hedwig Goldschmidt, a Jewess from Strasbourg. Their only son was killed in action in France during the First World War. Hoche studied in Berlin and originally wanted to become a gynaecologist. When his professor died, he went to Heidelberg and focussed more on neurology. In 1891, he habilitated in psychiatry. He became a professor in Freiburg and researched mainly on nerve and spinal cord diseases. His thinking was characterised by conservatism. He rejected the methods of psychoanalysis. He was also a member of the German Fatherland Party.

His collaboration on the book »Freigabe der Vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens« (Authorising the Destruction of Life Unworthy of Life) made him an intellectual pioneer of the National Socialist murder of the sick. He provided the medical arguments in favour of murdering the terminally ill.

After his retirement, he did not write any more specialised books. His wife died in 1937 and he died in 1943.

KARL BINDING (1841 – 1920)

Karl Binding was a German professor of criminal law and rector of the University of Leipzig. He came from Frankfurt am Main and had a son who became a writer.

Karl Binding studied law in Heidelberg and Göttingen and received his doctorate in 1863. One year later, he became a professor in Heidelberg. This was followed by professorships in Basel, Freiburg im Breisgau, Strasbourg and Leipzig. In the meantime, he was Rector of the University of Leipzig, for which he became an honorary citizen of Leipzig and was awarded an honorary doctorate.

Karl Binding was a follower of a »classical« school of criminal law, for which punishment represented ethical retribution and not social protection against further offences. One of his focal points was the distinction between consciously and unconsciously committed offences with different levels of punishment. The book ‘Die Freigabe der Vernichtung lebensunwerten Lebens’ (The Authorisation of the Destruction of Life Unworthy of Life), written together with Alfred Hoche, was published shortly after Binding’s death in 1920. As a criminal law expert, he developed the argument in favour of the unpunishable killing of the sick. After his death, he was buried in Freiburg. In 2010, the city of Leipzig stripped him of his honours.

It is a black-and-white photographic portrait of Karl Binding, now grey-haired, taken from the side. His hair is combed back, he has a trimmed full beard and is looking away to the side. In addition to a dark jacket, he is wearing a light-coloured shirt with a waistcoat and a large dark bow tie.

Karl Binding, around 1909.

Institute for City History Frankfurt am Main (ISG FFM), ISG FFM S7P No. 1245, photographer Georg Brakesch.

It is a black-and-white group photo. A total of 31 people are standing on a veranda in front of a hospital pavilion. They are looking at the camera. They are nurses and sick soldiers. A nun and Otto Snell are also among them. The nurses are wearing their uniforms with caps and long, tightly buttoned jackets. The sick are wearing light-coloured hospital clothing and berets.

Otto Snell (2nd row, 3rd from left) surrounded by nurses and patients from the military hospital in the Lüneburg sanatorium and nursing home. Postcard, around 1917.

ArEGL 156-5.

Karl Binding and Alfred Hoche’s thinking was characterised by the First World War. Due to the wartime shortages, the mortality rate at the Lüneburg sanatorium and nursing home was 17 per cent in 1916 and 1918. In the hunger winter of 1917, almost one in four patients died. The occupancy rate fell to around 700 patients by 1918. Many buildings were then occupied by employees or used as military hospitals for war casualties.

It is a typewritten letter on letterhead from the governor of the province of Hanover. The governor's coat of arms is in the upper left corner. The letter states that Provincial Councillor Zacharias will visit the institution to hold a training session for provincial office employees on the topic of »Revolution and Evolution.« The institution is to provide a suitable room for this purpose. The letter was stamped with a seal and the date of receipt was stamped on 5 January 1934. At the bottom of the page are handwritten notes with instructions for distributing the letter. Square brackets have been added by hand to the text. They mark the key information.

NLA Hannover Hann. 155 Lüneburg Nr. 81.

The thinking characterised by »eugenics« and »racial hygiene« also reached the Lüneburg sanatorium and nursing home. The social centre was used for corresponding training courses. The Medical Director Max Bräuner, as head of the Racial Policy Office, gave lectures on »hereditary health« and »racial hygiene«. He supported the health department, whose main task under National Socialism was to educate people about »hereditary and racial care«.

The extent to which thinking has changed in just a few years can be shown by comparing different editions of books by the same author.

In the display cases are the original book editions from 1925 and 1939, both in hard covers. They are open. The tables of contents can be seen. The font is Fraktur. The tables of contents can be compared. The 1925 book lacks a chapter on racial hygiene and eugenics. In the 1939 book, the table of contents shows that a separate chapter was added to this edition.

»Mental health care. A teaching and handbook for teaching and self-teaching for mental health nurses and for preparing for the nursing examination« by Valentin Faltlhauser (1925).

In 1925, »hereditary and racial care« played no role in the manual for carers. In the 1939 edition, a distinction was made between hereditary and externally caused diseases. The laws »for the protection of hereditary health« and »for the prevention of hereditary diseases« took up a separate chapter.

»Mental health care. A teaching and handbook for lunatic nurses« by Valentin Faltlhauser (1939).

The display cases contain the original editions of the book from 1916, 1937 and 1949. They are hardcover editions. They are open, displaying their tables of contents. The font is Fraktur. The tables of contents can be compared. The 1916 edition is missing a chapter on racial hygiene and eugenics. The table of contents in the 1937 edition shows that a separate chapter on this topic was added to this edition. The chapter is still present in the 1949 edition, but it has been shortened.

»Textbook of Psychiatry« by Eugen Bleuler (1916).

In 1916, there were no references to »hereditary and racial hygiene« in Eugen Bleuler’s standard work on psychiatric care. In 1937, he devoted an entire chapter to »hereditary and racial hygiene«. In the edition published by his son in 1949, the chapter was retained, albeit shortened. In the foreword, he explained that not everything about »hereditary and racial hygiene« was wrong. For many years after the Second World War, the subject continued to be characterised by National Socialist thinking.

»Textbook of Psychiatry« by Eugen Bleuler (1937).

»Textbook of Psychiatry« by Eugen Bleuler, revised by Manfred Bleuler (1949).

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