Johann Friedrich Karl Asperger (, ; 18 February 1906 – 21 October 1980) was an Austrian psychiatrist. He is remembered for his pioneering studies of autism, specifically in children. His name was given to
Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in Interpersonal relationship, social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and re ...
, a form of autism defined in 1981 by
Lorna Wing
}
Lorna Gladys Wing (7 October 1928 – 6 June 2014) was an English psychiatrist. She was a pioneer in the field of childhood developmental disorders, who advanced understanding of autism worldwide, introduced the term Asperger syndrome in 1976 ...
, which is now referred to as
Autism spectrum disorder
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental disorder, neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) ...
- level 1 as per the
DSM-5
The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition'' (DSM-5), is the 2013 update to the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'', the taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatric ...
. He wrote more than 300 publications on psychological disorders that posthumously acquired international renown in the 1980s. He had previously termed the diagnosis, "autistic psychopathy", which garnered controversy. Further controversy arose during the late 2010s over allegations that Asperger referred children to a
Nazi German
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
clinic responsible for murdering disabled patients, although his knowledge and involvement remains unknown.
His role in Austria annexed by the Nazis remained unknown for a long time, until the study of archival documents. These show that Hans Asperger, who worked under the direction of his friend Franz Hamburger, collaborated with the
Government of Nazi Germany
The government of Nazi Germany was totalitarian, run by the Nazi Party in Germany according to the Führerprinzip through the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. Nazi Germany began with the fact that the Enabling Act was enacted to give Hitler's gover ...
, benefited from career advancement due to the flight of Jewish doctors, and participated in the selection of children sent to
Am Spiegelgrund clinic
Am Spiegelgrund was a children's clinic in Vienna during World War II, where 789 patients were murdered under child euthanasia in Nazi Germany. Between 1940 and 1945, the clinic operated as part of the psychiatric hospital Am Steinhof later know ...
, where some of them were murdered. The question of his personal adherence to
Nazi ideology
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
remains controversial, particularly because of his Catholic religious convictions.
Personal life
Hans Asperger was born in
Hausbrunn
Hausbrunn is a town in the district of Mistelbach in the Austrian state of Lower Austria.
Population
Personalities
Pediatrician Hans Asperger, the doctor after whom Asperger's Syndrome is named after, was born here.
Gottfried von Preyer, regen ...
, Austria, on February 18th 1906, and raised on a farm not far from the city.
The eldest of three sons, his younger brother died shortly after birth
. His younger brother, Karl, who is four year younger than him, died on the Soviet front of World War II
. Hans describes his mother as pious and loving, while his father, Johann Asperger, who worked as an accountant but came from a farming family, was very strict.
He grew up Catholic.
He was talented in language; in particular, he was interested in the Austrian poet
Franz Grillparzer
Franz Seraphicus Grillparzer (15 January 1791 – 21 January 1872) was an Austrian writer who was considered to be the leading Austrian dramatist of the 19th century. His plays were and are frequently performed at the famous Burgtheater in Vien ...
, whose poetry he would frequently quote to his uninterested classmates. He also liked to quote himself and often referred to himself from a third-person perspective.
Hans had difficulty finding friends and was considered a lonely, remote child.
This information is contradicted by Sheffer who emphasizes his regular attendance in youth movements.
As a youth, he joined the Wandering Scholars of the Bund Neuland
(in the group of ''Fahrende Scholaren'', which organized outdoor activities such as hiking and mountaineering), a conservative Catholic organization within the
German Youth Movement
The German Youth Movement (german: Die deutsche Jugendbewegung) is a collective term for a cultural and educational movement that started in 1896. It consists of numerous associations of young people that focus on outdoor activities. The movement ...
that he supported throughout his life
. He considered this a formative experience, later stating: "I was molded by the spirit of the German youth movement, which was one of the noblest blossoms of the German spirit.". This movement maintained close links with the
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
from the 1930s onwards.
Asperger married in 1935 and had five children.
Education
Hans Asperger claimed to have discovered his future vocation as a doctor by dissecting the liver of a mouse during his final year of high school.
. He passed his secondary school final examination on May 20, 1925, with a distinction and the grade "very good" in all subjects.
According to his daughter, from 1916 to 1928, he followed an education oriented towards
humanism
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humani ...
, learning western philosophy,
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and ancient
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
. Asperger studied medicine at the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...
under
Franz Hamburger
Franz Hamburger (14 August 1874 in Pitten – 29 August 1954 in Vöcklabruck) was an Austrian medical doctor and university lecturer.
Biography
Hamburger attended high school in Wiener Neustadt, and studied medicine at Ruprecht Karl Unive ...
and practiced at the University Children's Hospital in Vienna. Asperger earned his medical degree in 1931 and became director of the
special education
Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...
section at the university children's clinic in Vienna in 1932.
He joined the
Austrofascist Fatherland Front on 10 May 1934, nine days after
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
Engelbert Dollfuss
Engelbert Dollfuß (alternatively: ''Dolfuss'', ; 4 October 1892 – 25 July 1934) was an Austrian clerical fascist politician who served as Chancellor of Austria between 1932 and 1934. Having served as Minister for Forests and Agriculture, he a ...
passed a new constitution making himself dictator.
Career
1930-1938
According to Czech, "with the appointment of Hamburger as president in 1930, the Vienna pediatric clinic became a beacon of anti-Jewish policy, long before the Nazi takeover"
.
After the death of
Clemens von Pirquet
Clemens Peter Freiherr von Pirquet (12 May 187428 February 1929) was an Austrian scientist and pediatrician best known for his contributions to the fields of bacteriology and immunology.
Career
Born in Vienna, he studied theology at the Universit ...
in 1929, Franz Hamburger expelled the Jewish doctors from the clinic, and also tried to remove the women
. Hans Asperger thus obtained his first post in May 1931, thanks to the "purge" of Jewish doctors
, as Hamburger's assistant at the University Paediatric Clinic in Vienna
. He then worked for different departments
. Czech points out the changes in leadership: "The political orientation of Hamburger's assistants is illustrated by the fact that among those who obtained the highest academic qualification (habilitation), all, with the exception of Hans Asperger, were rejected in 1945 as Nazis". Under the influence of Franz Chvostek junior, the Vienna clinic became a "hotbed of pan-Germanist and Nazi agitation"
.
Erwin Lazar died in 1932
, and Hans Asperger took over in May 1934
or 1935
, as head of the department of ''Heilpadagogik'' (or: ''Heilpadagogische'' curative pedagogy) at the pediatric clinic in Vienna. He joined an experienced team, consisting of psychiatrist George Frankl (who was Jewish), psychologist Josef Feldner and a nun, Sister Viktorine Zak.
Asperger's very rapid rise to head a pediatric ward, despite his few publications and the existence of more qualified candidates, was facilitated by the anti-Jewish policy.
The team also included, from August 1933 to February 1936, a young doctor specializing in gastrointestinal disorders, Erwin Jekelius, who later became a major architect of the Nazi extermination
. The pedagogy employed in ''Heilpadagogik'' was inspired by Erwin Lazar, the founder of the clinic
; Asperger continues and develops this approach
. He was influenced by two pedagogues, Jan-Daniel Georgens and Johann Heinrich Deinhardt, who founded a specialized institute in 1856. He is particularly interested in the "psychically abnormal child"
.
In addition to Hamburger and Jekelius, Asperger frequented other Nazi ideologues, including Erwin Risak, who studied with him in 1931 and with whom he co-authored an article the following year
. There is, however, no documented evidence that Asperger joined groups of Nazi sympathizers before 1938
,
.
His career was spent entirely in Vienna, with two brief exceptions
. In 1934 he was invited to work for some time at the psychiatric clinic in Leipzig, with Paul Schröder
. He was also invited for three months, during the summer of 1934, to the psychiatric hospital in Vienna, directed by Otto Pötzl
(whom he would later describe as a "terrifying exterminator"
). He joined the nationalist and anti-Semitic German Medical Association in Austria the same year
.
1939-1945
During World War II, Asperger was a medical officer, serving in the Axis Powers, Axis occupation of Yugoslavia; his younger brother died at Battle of Stalingrad, Stalingrad.
Near the end of the war, Asperger opened a school for children with Sister Viktorine Zak. The school was bombed and destroyed, Viktorine was killed, and much of Asperger's early work was lost.
Asperger published a definition of autistic psychopathy in 1944 that resembled the definition published earlier by a Russian neurologist named
Grunya Sukhareva
Grunya Yefimovna Sukhareva (, , alternative transliteration Suchareva) (11 November 1891 – 26 April 1981) was a Soviet child psychiatrist. She was the first to publish a detailed description of autistic symptoms in 1925. The original paper was ...
in 1926.
Asperger identified in four boys a pattern of behavior and abilities that included “a lack of
empathy
Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another's position. Definitions of empathy encompass a broad range of social, co ...
, little ability to form friendships, one-sided conversations, intense absorption in a special interest, and clumsy movements”.
[ Asperger noticed that some of the children he identified as being autistic used their special talents in adulthood and had successful careers. One of them became a professor of ]astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
and solved an error in Newton
Newton most commonly refers to:
* Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist
* Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton
Newton may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film
* Newton ( ...
's work he had originally noticed as a student. Another one of Asperger's patients was the Austrian writer and Nobel Prize in Literature
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, caption =
, awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature
, presenter = Swedish Academy
, holder = Annie Ernaux (2022)
, location = Stockholm, Sweden
, year = 1901
, ...
laureate, Elfriede Jelinek
Elfriede Jelinek (; born 20 October 1946) is an Austrian playwright and novelist. She is one of the most decorated authors writing in German today and was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Literature for her "musical flow of voices and counter-voi ...
.
In 1944, after the publication of his landmark paper describing autistic symptoms, Asperger found a permanent tenured post at the University of Vienna. Shortly after the war ended, he became director of a children's clinic in the city. It was there that he was appointed chair of pediatrics at the University of Vienna, a post he held for twenty years. He later held a post at Innsbruck
Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...
. Beginning in 1964, he headed the SOS-Kinderdorf in Hinterbrühl
Hinterbrühl () is a town in the district of Mödling in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is home to the Seegrotte, a system of caves including Europe's largest underground lake. During World War II, a satellite camp of Mauthausen concentra ...
. He became professor emeritus in 1977, and died three years later. AS was named after Hans Asperger and officially recognized in the fourth edition of the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (DSM; latest edition: DSM-5-TR, published in March 2022) is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a common langua ...
'' (DSM) in 1994; it was removed from DSM-5
The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition'' (DSM-5), is the 2013 update to the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'', the taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatric ...
and subsumed into autism spectrum disorder in 2013.
Posthumous adoption of Asperger syndrome diagnosis
Asperger died before his identification of this pattern of behaviour became widely recognised. This was in part due to his work being exclusively in German and as such it was little-translated; medical academics, then as now, also disregarded Asperger's work based on its merits or lack thereof. English researcher Lorna Wing
}
Lorna Gladys Wing (7 October 1928 – 6 June 2014) was an English psychiatrist. She was a pioneer in the field of childhood developmental disorders, who advanced understanding of autism worldwide, introduced the term Asperger syndrome in 1976 ...
proposed the condition Asperger's syndrome in a 1981 paper, ''Asperger's syndrome: a clinical account'', that challenged the previously accepted model of autism presented by Leo Kanner
Leo Kanner (; born Chaskel Leib Kanner; June 13, 1894 – April 3, 1981) was an Austrian-American psychiatrist, physician, and social activist best known for his work related to autism spectrum disorder. Before working at the Henry Phipps Psychi ...
in 1943. It was not until 1991 that an authoritative translation of Asperger's work was made by Uta Frith
Dame Uta Frith (''née'' Aurnhammer; born 25 May 1941) is a German-British developmental psychologist at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. She has pioneered much of the current research into autism and dysle ...
; before this, AS had still been "virtually unknown". Frith said that fundamental questions regarding the diagnosis had not been answered, and the necessary scientific data to address this did not exist.
In the early 1990s, Asperger's work gained some notice due to Wing's research on the subject and Frith's recent translation, leading to the inclusion of the eponymous condition in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th revision (ICD-10
ICD-10 is the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD), a medical classification list by the World Health Organization (WHO). It contains codes for diseases, signs and symptoms, ...
) in 1993, and the American Psychiatric Association
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are involve ...
's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th revision (DSM-IV
The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (DSM; latest edition: DSM-5-TR, published in March 2022) is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a common langua ...
) in 1994, some half a century after Asperger's original research.
Despite this brief resurgence of interest in his work in the 1990s, AS remains a controversial and contentious diagnosis due to its unclear relationship to the autism spectrum. In 2010 there was a majority consensus to subsume AS into the diagnosis "Autistic Spectrum Disorder
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
" in the 2013 DSM-5
The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition'' (DSM-5), is the 2013 update to the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'', the taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatric ...
diagnostic manual. The World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
's ICD-10 Version 2015 describes AS as “a disorder of uncertain nosological
Nosology () is the branch of medical science that deals with the classification of diseases. Fully classifying a medical condition requires knowing its cause (and that there is only one cause), the effects it has on the body, the symptoms that ...
validity”.
In his 1944 paper, as Uta Frith translated from the German in 1991, Asperger wrote: "We are convinced, then, that autistic people have their place in the organism of the social community. They fulfill their role well, perhaps better than anyone else could, and we are talking of people who as children had the greatest difficulties and caused untold worries to their care-givers." Based on Frith's translation, however, Asperger initially stated: "Unfortunately, in the majority of cases the positive aspects of autism do not outweigh the negative ones." Psychologist Eric Schopler
Eric Schopler (February 8, 1927 – July 7, 2006) was a German born American psychologist whose pioneering research into autism led to the foundation of the TEACCH program.
Personal life
Eric Schopler was born February 8, 1927, in Fürth, Ger ...
wrote in 1998:
Asperger's own publications did not inspire research, replication, or scientific interest prior to 1980. Instead, he laid the fertile groundwork for the diagnostic confusion that has grown since 1980.
Since 2009, Asperger's birthday, 18 February, has been declared International Asperger's Day by various governments.
Nazi involvement
Edith Sheffer, a modern European history scholar, wrote in 2018 that Asperger cooperated with the Nazi regime, including sending children to the Am Spiegelgrund
Am Spiegelgrund was a children's clinic in Vienna during World War II, where 789 patients were murdered under child euthanasia in Nazi Germany. Between 1940 and 1945, the clinic operated as part of the psychiatric hospital Am Steinhof later kno ...
clinic which participated in the euthanasia program. Sheffer wrote a book called ''Asperger's Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna'' (2018), elaborating on her research.
Herwig Czech, another scholar and historian from the Medical University of Vienna
The Medical University of Vienna (German: ''Medizinische Universität Wien'') is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It is the direct successor to the faculty of medicine at the University of Vienna, founded in 1365 by Rudolf IV, Duk ...
, concluded in a 2017 article in the journal '' Molecular Autism'', which was published in April 2018:
Asperger managed to accommodate himself to the Nazi regime and was rewarded for his affirmations of loyalty with career opportunities. He joined several organizations affiliated with the NSDAP (although not the Nazi party itself), publicly legitimized 'race hygiene' policies including forced sterilizations and, on several occasions, actively cooperated with the child 'euthanasia' program.
Dean Falk
Dean Falk (born June 25, 1944) is an American academic neuroanthropologist who specializes in the evolution of the brain and cognition in higher primates. She is the Hale G. Smith Professor of Anthropology and a Distinguished Research Professor ...
, an American anthropologist from Florida State University
Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...
, questioned Czech and Sheffer's allegations against Hans Asperger in a paper in ''Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
The ''Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal
A medical journal is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that communicates medical information to physicians, other health professionals. Journals that cov ...
''. Czech's reply was published in the same journal. Falk defended her paper against Czech's reply in a second paper.
Norwegian doctor and historical scholar Ketil Slagstad added his interpretation of both Sheffer's and Czech's work in his 2019 article "Asperger, the Nazis and the children - the history of the birth of a diagnosis", in which he describes the nuances of the situation. He offers an alternative explanation of Asperger's involvement: citing the challenges of war, a desire to protect his career, and protection of the children for whom he was caring. Slagstad concluded:
The story of Hans Asperger, Nazism, murdered children, post-war oblivion, the birth of the diagnosis in the 1980s, the gradual expansion of the diagnostic criteria and the huge recent interest in autism spectrum disorders exemplify the historical and volatile nature of diagnoses: they are historic constructs that reflect the times and societies where they exert their effect.
Slagstad wrote, "Historical research has now shown that he spergerwas...a well-adapted cog in the machine of a deadly regime. He deliberately referred disabled children to the clinic Am Spiegelgrund, where he knew that they were at risk of being killed. The eponym Asperger’s syndrome ought to be used with awareness of its historical origin".
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Asperger, Hans
1906 births
1980 deaths
20th-century Austrian physicians
20th-century Austrian scientists
Austrian Nazis
Austrian pediatricians
Autism researchers
Combat medics
German Army officers of World War II
Nazi eugenics
University of Vienna alumni