Current dissertations

Institute of History, Ethics and Philosophy of Medicine

Doctoral candidate

Anna-Maria Etmann

Working title of the dissertation

Investigation of traumatized war invalids born between 1911 and 1928 who were treated in Göttingen State Hospital between 1945 and 1947

Abstract

Due to military operations of the German Armed Forces, the topic of war traumatization has recently come more and more into the public focus. This study examines the question of how the effects of war were diagnosed in soldiers after the Second World War. How did the concept of trauma and the diagnosis of trauma develop? How were these differentiated from neurological trauma?

The thesis will examine traumatization in male soldiers after the Second World War. Were there any soldiers with traumatization related to the war effort in Clinical Departments? How were they diagnosed? Were they recognized?

In order to answer these questions, patient files from the Göttingen State Hospital from the immediate post-war period 1945-1947 are being examined. The birth cohorts are limited to 1911 to 1928, as only former soldiers are to be included in the study. Men born before 1911 were either professional soldiers or no longer took part in the war due to their age. The 1928 cohort is one of the youngest to take part in the war; soldiers from this cohort were drafted at the age of 16 or 17 in the final years of the war. The Göttingen State Hospital was chosen because of its good records. Its patient files can be found in the main state archive in Hanover.

Since the second half of the war, there has been increasing research into the psychological consequences of severe injuries, psychological trauma and organic brain psychosyndrome (e.g. as a result of burial and captivity). The files will be used to show whether and how the research results influenced the level of knowledge of the neurologists and psychiatrists working in Göttingen, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of traumatized patients.