Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Adolf Hitler

  • Dictator on the couch: The only known psychological treatment of Adolf Hitler

    Robert M. KaplanAustralia It is perhaps not widely known that Adolf Hitler, one of the most fanatical and murderous personalities in history, underwent psychological treatment early in his political career. It happened in November 1924. He was at the time a right-wing activist and rabble-rouser arrested after mounting a coup against the Bavarian government, the…

  • Dr. Alice Miller on Hitler’s childhood

    Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “All it took was a Führer’s madness and several million well-raised Germans to extinguish the lives of countless millions of innocent human beings in the space of a few short years.”—Alice Miller, Ph.D. This article is based on the chapter “Adolf Hitler’s childhood: From hidden to manifest horror,” in Alice Miller, For…

  • Movie review: Pressure Point—Treating the hateful patient

    Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “You sing ‘My country ’tis of thee’ while they walk all over you.”—The patient, Pressure Point Pressure Point (1962) is a “doctor movie” that is “all but unknown to the general public.”1 This is unfortunate, since it contains important messages as well as some splendid acting. The story is told as a…

  • Wilhelm Werner’s life unworthy of life: A voice from the Nazi Euthanasia Program

    Erika SilvestriBerlin, Germany The medical-scientific sector was among the first to adhere to National Socialism: in 1933, nine doctors sat in Parliament in the ranks of the party.1 After a century of scientific dynamism and in opposition to religious dogma, the eugenic ideal had spread throughout Europe and the United States, taking on the appearance…

  • The special art of Vienna

    Irving RosenToronto, Ontario, Canada Vienna, capital of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, has always promised intellectual fervor, Strauss waltzes, Schnitzlerian flirtations, Sachertorte, and the beautiful golden women painted by Gustav Klimt (fig. 1).1 Others such as Eduard Pernkopf, head of anatomy at Vienna’s renowned medical school, achieved artistic brilliance by creating a beautiful, internationally acclaimed atlas…