Psychiatry During WWI

Call for Papers

Psychiatry during WWI

International Historical Conference

Kloster Irsee, 4 and 5 February 2016

At 4./5. February 2016 the Heimatpflege des Bezirks Schwaben, the Schwabenakademie Irsee and the Bildungswerk des Bayerischen Bezirketags will host a conference entitled “Psychiatry during WWI” in collaboration with the Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie II of Ulm University at Kloster Irsee.

In 1849, the regional government of Swabia erected a psychiatric hospital and mental asylum at the former monastery Irsee, which was enlarged in due course and whose medical records have been preserved. For the period of WWI over 100 soldiers were treated there as mental-health patients. Following the research of Julia Barbara Köhne, Paul Lerner, Stephanie Neuner, Hans-Georg Hofer, Maria Hermes et al. this international conference explores how mentally traumatised soldiers were cured in psychiatric wards. According to the report of the German army’s medical corps 613.047 soldiers were treated for neuropathy, 313.000 of these suffered from neurological trauma (shellshock). New types of weapons as well as the trench warfare had exposed soldiers to hitherto unknown and long-lasting strain, which caused many victims.

This conference explores the respective treatment of shell-shocked soldiers in Germany, Austria, France, Britain and Italy by using diverse examples of psychiatric and medical institutions. It regards itself as a complementary event, as addingto the current debate conducted in learned journals, at conferences, and by committees of military surgeons.

A full examination of wartime psychiatry also needs to include patients’ deaths through lack of available food at psychiatric hospitals and mental asylums. In addition, the conference investigates the current state of research on symptoms of mental illness that were brought on by wartime experience.

These days, this debate is topical in the Federal Republic of Germany; at the conference it will, however, be discussed as part of a worldwide investigation under medical criteria and as an issue of memorial culture.

We invite proposals for contributions of unpublished research of 30 minutes max., followed by a discussion of 15 minutes. We particularly welcome reports dealing with hospitals and asylums in Britain, France and Italy as well as summarising accounts from these countries.

Please send your working title, a one-page abstract and short bio blurb by 20 July 2015 to the Heimatpflege des Bezirks Schwaben at conference programme, collated from the proposals received before deadline, will be advertised by the middle of July 2015. Selected speakers will receive free accommodation, full board and reimbursement of travel expenses. They also receive a honorarium of 150,– €.The conference languages are German and English. The event takes place on Thursday and Friday, 4 and 5 February 2016. Publication of the conference results is envisaged as part of the series “Irseer Schriften: Studien zur Wirtschafts-, Kultur- und Mentalitätsgeschichte” (UVK Verlagsgesellschaft).

Conference Committee

Prof. Dr. Thomas Becker, Lehrstuhl Psychiatrie II der Universität Ulm.

Prof. Dr. Heiner Fangerau, Institut für Geschichte und Ethik der Medizin, Universitätsklinik Köln.

Dr. Peter Fassl, Heimatpfleger des Bezirks Schwaben.

Priv.-Doz. Dr. Hans-Georg Hofer, Medizinhistorisches Institut, Universität Bonn.

Contact

Dr. Peter Fassl, Bezirk Schwaben, Heimatpflege, Hafnerberg 10, 86152 Augsburg,