Ernst Rüdin
Encyclopedia
Ernst Rüdin was a Swiss
psychiatrist
, geneticist
and eugenicist
. Rüdin was born in St. Gallen
, Switzerland
. He is known as one of the fathers of racial hygiene
.
by his brother-in-law Alfred Ploetz
, Rüdin started his career as a psychiatrist and developed the concept of "empirical genetic prognosis" of mental disorders. He published his initial results on the genetics
of schizophrenia
in 1916.
Rüdin was the director (1917-1945) of the Genealogical-Demographic Department at the German Institute for Psychiatric Research in Munich
. He directed one of the first eugenics
research institutes, the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
for Genealogy in Munich
, Germany
. He also headed the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Rassenhygiene [German Society for Racial Hygiene] ; he was one of the first members of that organization to attempt to educate the public about the "dangers" of hereditary defectives and the value of the Nordic race as "culture creators".
His research was later supported with manpower and financial funding from the German National Socialists
. After 1945, Rüdin's connections to the Nazis were a major reason for criticisms of psychiatric genocide
in Germany.
. He wrote the official commentary for the racial policy of Nazi Germany
: "Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring
"; and was awarded medals from the Nazis and Adolf Hitler
personally.
In 1933, Ernst Rüdin, Alfred Ploetz, and several other experts on racial hygiene were brought together to form the Expert Committee on Questions of Population and Racial Policy
under Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick
. The committee's ideas were used as a scientific basis to justify the racial policy of Nazi Germany
. The "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring" was passed by the German government on January 1, 1934. Rüdin was interned in US 1945, but already released 1946, after Max Planck
campaigned on his behalf.
"Whoever is not physically or mentally fit must not pass on his defects to his children. The state must take care that only the fit produce children. Conversely, it must be regarded as reprehensible to withhold healthy children from the state."--at a speech to the German Society for Rassenhygiene, quoting Hitler.
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
psychiatrist
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
, geneticist
Geneticist
A geneticist is a biologist who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer. Some geneticists perform experiments and analyze data to interpret the inheritance of skills. A geneticist is also a Consultant or...
and eugenicist
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
. Rüdin was born in St. Gallen
St. Gallen
St. Gallen is the capital of the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration and represents the center of eastern Switzerland. The town mainly relies on the service sector for its economic...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. He is known as one of the fathers of racial hygiene
Racial hygiene
Racial hygiene was a set of early twentieth century state sanctioned policies by which certain groups of individuals were allowed to procreate and others not, with the expressed purpose of promoting certain characteristics deemed to be particularly desirable...
.
Background
Influenced in racial hygiene and Social DarwinismSocial Darwinism
Social Darwinism is a term commonly used for theories of society that emerged in England and the United States in the 1870s, seeking to apply the principles of Darwinian evolution to sociology and politics...
by his brother-in-law Alfred Ploetz
Alfred Ploetz
Alfred Ploetz was a German physician, biologist, eugenicist known for coining the term racial hygiene and promoting the concept in Germany. Rassenhygiene is a form of eugenics.-Biography:...
, Rüdin started his career as a psychiatrist and developed the concept of "empirical genetic prognosis" of mental disorders. He published his initial results on the genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
of schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
in 1916.
Rüdin was the director (1917-1945) of the Genealogical-Demographic Department at the German Institute for Psychiatric Research in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. He directed one of the first eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
research institutes, the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science was a German scientific institution established in 1911. It was implicated in Nazi science, and after the Second World War was wound up and its functions replaced by the Max Planck Society...
for Genealogy in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He also headed the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Rassenhygiene [German Society for Racial Hygiene] ; he was one of the first members of that organization to attempt to educate the public about the "dangers" of hereditary defectives and the value of the Nordic race as "culture creators".
His research was later supported with manpower and financial funding from the German National Socialists
National Socialist Party
Parties in various contexts have referred to themselves as National Socialist parties. Because there is no clear definition of national socialism, the term has been used to mean very different things...
. After 1945, Rüdin's connections to the Nazis were a major reason for criticisms of psychiatric genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
in Germany.
Nazi expert
Recognized as one of the fathers of National Socialist ideology, his work was endorsed officially by the Nazi PartyNazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. He wrote the official commentary for the racial policy of Nazi Germany
Racial policy of Nazi Germany
The racial policy of Nazi Germany was a set of policies and laws implemented by Nazi Germany, asserting the superiority of the "Aryan race", and based on a specific racist doctrine which claimed scientific legitimacy...
: "Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring
Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring
Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring or "Sterilization Law" was a statute in Nazi Germany enacted on July 14, 1933, which allowed the compulsory sterilization of any citizen who in the opinion of a "Genetic Health Court" Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring...
"; and was awarded medals from the Nazis and Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
personally.
In 1933, Ernst Rüdin, Alfred Ploetz, and several other experts on racial hygiene were brought together to form the Expert Committee on Questions of Population and Racial Policy
Expert Committee on Questions of Population and Racial Policy
The Expert Committee on Questions of Population and Racial Policy was a Nazi Germany committee formed on 2 June, 1933 that planned Nazi racial policy...
under Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick
Wilhelm Frick
Wilhelm Frick was a prominent German Nazi official serving as Minister of the Interior of the Third Reich. After the end of World War II, he was tried for war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials and executed...
. The committee's ideas were used as a scientific basis to justify the racial policy of Nazi Germany
Racial policy of Nazi Germany
The racial policy of Nazi Germany was a set of policies and laws implemented by Nazi Germany, asserting the superiority of the "Aryan race", and based on a specific racist doctrine which claimed scientific legitimacy...
. The "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring" was passed by the German government on January 1, 1934. Rüdin was interned in US 1945, but already released 1946, after Max Planck
Max Planck
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck, ForMemRS, was a German physicist who actualized the quantum physics, initiating a revolution in natural science and philosophy. He is regarded as the founder of the quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.-Life and career:Planck came...
campaigned on his behalf.
Quotes
"The significance of Rassenhygiene [racial hygiene] did not become evident to all aware Germans until the political activity of Adolf Hitler and only through his work has our 30-year long dream of translating Rassenhygiene into action finally become a reality.""Whoever is not physically or mentally fit must not pass on his defects to his children. The state must take care that only the fit produce children. Conversely, it must be regarded as reprehensible to withhold healthy children from the state."--at a speech to the German Society for Rassenhygiene, quoting Hitler.
See also
- Ethnic cleansingEthnic cleansingEthnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
- EugenicsEugenicsEugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
- T-4 Euthanasia ProgramAction T4Action T4 was the name used after World War II for Nazi Germany's eugenics-based "euthanasia" program during which physicians killed thousands of people who were "judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination"...
- Werner HeydeWerner HeydeWerner Heyde was a German psychiatrist. He was one of the main organizers of Nazi Germany's T-4 Euthanasia Program.-Education:Heyde completed his Abitur in 1920...
- Werner VillingerWerner VillingerWerner Villinger was a Nazi German psychiatrist, neurologist, eugenicist and the leading physician at the Bethel Institution . Villinger's specialities included juvenile delinquency, child guidance and group therapy...
- The Gene IllusionThe Gene IllusionThe Gene Illusion is a book by clinical psychologist Jay Joseph, published in 2003, which challenges the evidence underlying genetic theories in psychiatry and psychology. Focusing primarily on twin and adoption studies, he attempts to debunk the methodologies used to establish genetic...