Language:
German
Year of publication:
2019
Titel der Quelle:
Aschkenas; Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Kultur der Juden
Angaben zur Quelle:
29,1 (2019) 95-112
Keywords:
Antisemitism History 20th century
;
Psychiatric hospitals History
;
Jews Mental health
;
Jews Mental health services
Abstract:
The years around 1900 were marked by discussions on whether Jews were particularly susceptible to mental suffering. Not only was the topic presented by racial hygienists with anti-Semitic hrust, it also played a prominent role for Jewish physicians. The causes of "Jewish nervousness" were discussed controversially, either as a hereditary biological system of the Jewish "race" or as caused by the specific history of Jews in exile, where they lived in an anti-Semitic environment, or their particular urban lifestyle that was alienated from nature, or a tendency to mental illness. The "Israelite Health and Nursing Establishment" in Bendorf-Sayn understood itself as an institution that specialized in the needs of Jewish patients and kept them safe from anti-Semitic attacks. However, it was only intended for a solvent clientele. In public welfare institutions patients of Jewish faith generally could not expect any concessions and were discriminated against, in particular by psychiatrists oriented towards racial hygiene.
DOI:
10.1515/asch-2019-0007
URL:
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