Language:
German
Year of publication:
1999
Titel der Quelle:
Aschkenas; Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Kultur der Juden
Angaben zur Quelle:
9, 1 (1999) 109-131
Keywords:
Jews Medicine
;
Jews Science
;
Antisemitism History 1800-2000
;
Antisemitism Philosophy
;
Wandering Jew
Abstract:
"Pathological vagabondage" was a much-feared social-psychiatric phenomenon in late 19th-century France. It was thought to be caused by a tendency to epilepsy, hysteria, or neurasthenia, and to be a symptom of hereditary degeneration. Some psychiatrists considered Jews especially susceptible to this "disease", notably Henry Meige (expressed in his dissertation of 1893 based on a study of five Jewish patients at the Salpêtrière). Most psychiatrists, however, freely used the figure of speech "Wandering Jew" for vagabonds, without any intention of identifying them as actual Jews. Still, Jews were seen as similar to vagabonds in their alleged tendency to hysteria and neurasthenia, physical weakness, unfitness for army service, lack of willpower, and pathological religious enthusiasm. These characteristics, adding up to effeminacy, were also associated with other supposedly inferior groups, such as Blacks.
Note:
In the late 19th century.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink
