Bocholt city history discussion group: Psychiatry under National Socialism

On Wednesday, 21 August at 6.30 pm, the city of Bocholt invites you to the Bocholt City History Discussion Group in the media centre (Alter Bahnhof) at Hindenburgstraße 5 in Bocholt. The guest is Jörg Ristau, senior consultant at the psychiatric clinic of the St Vincent Hospital in Rhede.

In his lecture on the research question "How did psychiatric care in the former district of Borken and the town of Bocholt change between 1930 and 1936?" he reports on the current state of research of his dissertation.

The speaker is interested in further cases and names from the region and would be pleased to receive further sources and documents on his topic.

The topic of "psychiatry under National Socialism" has been analysed by historians, primarily on the basis of the history of the large sanatoriums and state hospitals. Historians estimate the number of victims at around 300,000 deaths and an additional 400,000 sterilised patients. The spectrum of what doctors and others did to mentally ill and disabled people during the Nazi era ranges from poor treatment on site and starvation campaigns to sterilisations and large-scale killings.

Young residents of Haus Hall in Gescher and presumably also residents of Haus Pröbsting in Borken-Hoxfeld fell victim to the National Socialists' so-called euthanasia programme. In his dissertation, the speaker examines the question "How did outpatient psychiatric care in the Borken district and in Bocholt change between 1930 and 1936?".

Ristau not only examines cases of direct persecution of mentally ill people, but also the sometimes seemingly mundane things such as the GP sector, therapies, the assumption of costs by health insurance companies or the public order offices and the lives of people who were mentally ill but did not end up in one of the large sanatoriums.

The Bocholt city history discussion group is a co-operation between the adult education centre and the Bocholt city archives: Historians as well as local historians present their research topics and then engage in a discussion with the audience. The event will be moderated by the city archivist Renate Volks-Kuhlmann. The event is being organised in cooperation with the Gesellschaft für historische Landeskunde des westlichen Münsterlandes.

Please register at www.vhs-bocholt.de or stadtarchiv(at)bocholt(dot)de