Hans W. Maier

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Hans W. Maier, 1914 (UAZ) AB.1.0623 Maier.tif
Hans W. Maier, 1914

Hans Wolfgang Maier (26 July 1882 in Frankfurt am Main - 25 March 1945 in Zurich) was a German-Swiss psychiatrist and eugenicist.

Contents

In 1912, he introduced the term catathymic crisis in his paper "Über katathyme Wahnbildung und Paranoia". [1] [2]

Maier was a proponent of eugenic sterilization. [3] His dissertation in 1908 was on the topic of "moral idiocy". [4]

Biography

Maier was the son of Jewish parents, the banker Gustav Maier and Regina Maier, née Friedlaender. His parents' conversion to the Reformed Church in 1893 also affected him. [5]

Maier completed his secondary education in Zurich and studied medicine at the Universities of Zurich, Vienna, and Strasbourg. He received his doctorate in Zurich in 1905 and subsequently worked as an assistant and attending physician at the Burghölzli Psychiatric Clinic. [6] In 1912, he qualified as a university lecturer in psychiatry and was appointed to a full professorship in 1916. [6] He founded and directed the Psychiatric Polyclinic and the Stephansburg Children's Psychiatric Ward. In 1927, Maier succeeded Eugen Bleuler as director of the Burghölzli and became a full professor of psychiatry at the University of Zurich. [6]

Around 1940, during a paternity suit, it came to light that he had maintained a relationship for years with a volunteer entrusted to his care at Burghölzli and had fathered a child with her. Maier demanded disciplinary proceedings against himself, which were opened in January 1941. In June 1941, the investigating commission exonerated Maier to the extent that it denied criminal responsibility and rejected disciplinary measures, but noted that confidence in him had been shaken. Maier then resigned immediately. Even during the disciplinary proceedings, the lawyer Karl Scherrer had stirred up sentiment against Maier. In 1942, he launched a nationwide smear campaign by publishing a pamphlet entitled "The Case of Prof. Dr. Hans W. Maier" on behalf of an anonymous "action committee." An antisemitic motive likely played a role here. Maier sued Scherrer for defamation and was successful; in 1944 the further distribution of the pamphlet was banned. [7]

Maier was involved in drafting the Swiss Penal Code of 1942. He authored numerous works on social psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, and psychiatry and the military, and was also active as an expert witness. Maier reformed the medical corps in the Swiss military. [5] [8] [6]

Like his two predecessors, Maier espoused eugenic ideas. Together with Alfred Glaus  ( de ) and Hans Binder  ( de ), he standardized the “Zurich practice" of marriage prohibition, abortion regulations, sterilization and castration already established by his predecessors, which had an impact far beyond the Burghölzli. [9]

Maier was naturalized in Zurich in 1900. [10] He was buried in the Rehalp Cemetery  ( de ) in Zurich.

Personal life

His first wife, Leonie Laissle, disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 1915, leaving Maier a single father. In 1919, he married Elena Schauffele (1889–1969). One son was the psychiatrist Gerhard Maier (1910–1988), who was married to Emmi Meierhofer (1911–1992). She was a sister of Marie Meierhofer. Maier's granddaughter, the natural scientist Beatrice Maier Anner (born 1942), has published numerous books about her family history. [11]

References

  1. ↑ Schlesinger, Louis B (1996-12-01). "The Catathymic crisis, 1912-present: A review and clinical study". Aggression and Violent Behavior. 1 (4): 307–316. doi:10.1016/S1359-1789(96)00003-1. ISSN   1359-1789.
  2. ↑ Maier, Hans W. (1912-12-01). "Über katathyme wahnbildung und paranoia". Zeitschrift für die gesamte Neurologie und Psychiatrie (in German). 13 (1): 555–610. doi:10.1007/BF02865628. ISSN   0303-4194.
  3. ↑ Wecker, Regina (2012). "Eugenics in Switzerland before and after 1945 – a Continuum?". Journal of Modern European History / Zeitschrift für moderne europäische Geschichte / Revue d'histoire européenne contemporaine. 10 (4): 519–539. ISSN   1611-8944.
  4. ↑ Mottier, Véronique (2012-09-18), Bashford, Alison; Levine, Philippa (eds.), "Eugenics and the State: Policy-Making in Comparative Perspective", The Oxford Handbook of the History of Eugenics (1 ed.), Oxford University Press, pp. 134–153, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195373141.013.0008, ISBN   978-0-19-537314-1 , retrieved 2025-12-16
  5. 1 2 Christof Rieber: Die Villa Breitenstein in Ermatingen. Die Konversion des jüdischen Bankiers Gustav Maier zur reformierten Kirche. In: Schriftenreihe zur Geschichte des Bodensees und Umgebung. 140. Heft (2022), S. 180–195.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Uwe Zeller: Psychotherapie in der Weimarer Zeit: Die Gründung der «Allgemeinen Ärztlichen Gesellschaft für Psychotherapie» (AÄGP). MVK, Tübingen 2001, ISBN 3-932694-98-8, S. 387.
  7. ↑ Mario Gmür: Die Affären Binswanger und Maier – antisemitische Hintergründe? In: Swiss Archives of Neurology, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Bd. 174, Nr. 3 (Juni 2023), S. 95–98 (online (PDF)).
  8. ↑ Vera Koelbing-Waldis:"Maier, Hans Wolfgang" in German , French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland ., 27. Februar 2008, abgerufen am 5. Februar 2016.
  9. ↑ Thomas Huonker: Diagnostik und «Eugenik»: Zu den Diagnosen «Schizophrenie» und «moralische Idiotie» und deren Prägung durch Eugen Bleuler und Hans Wolfgang Maier. Referat zum Gedenktag an die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus im Psychiatriezentrum Reichenau, 27. Januar 2004, abgerufen am 13. Juli 2023.
  10. ↑ Vera Koelbing-Waldis:"Maier, Hans Wolfgang" in German , French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland ,2020-04-15.
  11. ↑ Beatrice Maier Anner , abgerufen am 22. November 2023.


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