2019/04/16 by Th. Müller, Bernd Reichelt · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Medical History and Research #Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices #Psychoanalysis and Social Critique
paper · doi:10.1177/0957154x19842017
openalex publication_date 2019/04/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
The aim of this paper is to shed light on the so-called 'Poitrot Report', submitted to the French Military Government in Baden-Baden, Germany, in December 1945 and published in a reduced German version in 1946. Its author was the French-Moroccan psychiatrist Robert Poitrot, who had been put in charge of the public mental asylums in Südwürttemberg after World War II. Poitrot took responsibility for restoring psychiatric care during the occupation, and was also eager to document Nazi 'euthanasia' and to start investigating the role of staff in mental hospitals during National Socialism. Focusing on the 'Poitrot Report', this paper also reflects on life in Württemberg mental hospitals and the interaction between French representatives such as Poitrot and regional German medical staff.