Pioneering physician Asperger sent children to their deaths, study claims

Findings to spark a ‘big conversation’

Based on previously unexamined documents drawn from Austrian archives, the new study seeks to challenge the prevailing academic narrative of the doctor as a principled opponent of National Socialism. Though he never joined the ranks of the Nazi Party, Asperger sought membership in several organizations affiliated with it, the study claims.

The research is based on Asperger’s personnel files, political assessments by Nazi authorities and contemporary medical records from various institutions.

“The picture that emerges is that of a man who managed to further his career under the Nazi regime, despite his apparent political and ideological distance from it,” Czech writes.

The reassessment of Asperger’s role in history is likely to prompt intense discussion among people with autism and their families, according to Carol Povey, director at the National Autistic Society’s Centre of Autism in the UK. “We expect these findings to spark a big conversation among the 700,000 autistic people in the UK and their family members, particularly those who identify with the term ‘Asperger,’ ” Povey said.

“We will be listening closely to the response to this news so we can continue to make sure the language we use to describe autism reflects the preferences of autistic people and their families.

“Obviously, no one with a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome should feel in any way tainted by this very troubling history.”

‘Permanent placement’

One particularly upsetting case cited by Czech is that of Herta Schreiber, a 3-year-old patient with signs of disturbed mental and physical development who also had encephalitis.

In 1941, Asperger recommended Herta’s transferal to Spiegelgrund, saying “permanent placement” there was “absolutely necessary” because she must “an unbearable burden to her mother.”

Herta died three months after acceptance in the clinic, one day after her third birthday. A note in the child’s Spiegelgrund file indicated that her mother knew what fate awaited her child.

At least one expert said the report still needs to be seen in context.

“Virtually all doctors in Germany at that time were members of the Nazi Party, and there was almost no opposition to the euthanasia programs for the mentally ill and handicapped, except from one or two heads of asylums and a very small number of Catholic bishops,” said Dr. Anthony J. Bailey, professor and chairman of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Institute of Mental Health at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

“The truth is that forced euthanasia was imposed on a very diverse range of people with mental and neurological problems, and a focus on Asperger seems unwarranted,” Bailey said.