[Hermann F. Hoffmann (1891-1944)--Tübingen psychiatry on the way to national socialism]

Abstract

This study covers the life and scientific work of Hermann F. Hoffmann who was a disciple of Robert Gaup and in 1936 took over from him as head of the psychiatric clinic at the University of Tübinge. As a scientist, Hoffmann was especially involved in research into genetic problems in psychiatry. He introduced a new approach to some premises of the so-called Tübingen Psychiatric School. In 1933, he joined the NSDAP and became one of the most prominent members of the National Socialist party at the University of Tübingen. From then on, he saw himself as a prophet of a new "biological" philosophy of life. From the present point of view, Hoffmann is something of a contradiction. On the one hand, he was a good doctor and a serious scientist; on the other, he promoted biologistic ideology and a criminal regime. These biographical inconsistencies point to some inconsistencies in the history of psychiatry itself with its dialectics of philanthropy and discrimination.