Paul Adolf Näcke (born 23 January 1851

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

– died 18 August 1913

Colditz Colditz () is a small town in the district of Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. It is best known for Colditz Castle, the site of the Oflag IV-C POW camp for officers in World War II. Geography Colditz is situated in the Leipzig Bay, southeast of the c ...

) was a German

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

and

criminologist Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...

. Näcke is known for his writings on homosexuality, and coining the term

narcissism Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism exists on a co ...

in 1899 to describe someone who treated his body as a sexual object.

Career

He received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in 1873 in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

, titled (English title translated): "About

intestinal perforation Gastrointestinal perforation, also known as ruptured bowel, is a hole in the wall of part of the gastrointestinal tract. The gastrointestinal tract includes the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. Symptoms include severe ab ...

and typhoid abdominalis". He worked in various Parisian hospitals; later he took an interest in

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psych ...

. In 1912 he became the director of the psychiatric hospital at

Colditz Castle Castle Colditz (or ''Schloss Colditz'' in German) is a Renaissance castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz in the state of Saxony in Germany. The castle is between the towns of Hartha and Grimma on a hill spur over the r ...

. Näcke, along with Hans Gross, a professor of criminology, founded the archive of

criminal anthropology Anthropological criminology (sometimes referred to as criminal anthropology, literally a combination of the study of the human species and the study of criminals) is a field of offender profiling, based on perceived links between the nature of a ...

and

criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

in 1898.Galassi, Silviana (2004). Criminology in the German Empire. History of a Broken Verschafissenschaftlichung (p. 164), Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner-Verlag In 1884 Näcke wrote the first

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

on women's crime in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He suggested a "sensible

emancipation of women Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

", which was groundbreaking for the time, but did not mean equal rights. Näcke is considered a strong opponent of

Positive criminology Positive criminology is based on the perspective that integration and positive life influences that help individuals develop personally and socially will lead to a reduced risk of criminal behavior and better recovery of offenders. Integration work ...

, that was founded by

Cesare Lombroso Cesare Lombroso (, also ; ; born Ezechia Marco Lombroso; 6 November 1835 – 19 October 1909) was an Italian criminologist, phrenologist, physician, and founder of the Italian School of Positivist Criminology. Lombroso rejected the establis ...

. Näcke described Lombroso's work as marked by "arbitrariness, exaggerations, ndjumping to conclusions" According to Näcke, criminals are the product of external influences, and not only biological influences as thought by Lombroso. This does not mean that Näcke disapproved of a biological basis for crime altogether. His argument is that every human being is a "latent criminal". Näcke was one of the first advocates of the sterilization of "degenerate criminals" and "degenerates" in general. He saw it as a public duty to make "degenerates" infertile. By 1900, he published a work entitled ''The castration of certain classes of degenerates as an effective way of social protection'' (title translated) Näcke wrote on the subject of a Jewish character, which was described only in vague and general features, and considered that character as a reason for crimes committed by Jews. Näcke stated his position in 1899: "the State has the holy duty to intervene... and to prevent through legislation the increase of the degenerated elements. Such an intervention would aim at the removal of a big cancer in our national body". He asserted that only

castration Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharmaceut ...

could guarantee that this task was fulfilled both effectively and in the "easiest, cheapest way". In 1912, Näcke wrote against the then common diagnosis of "

moral insanity Moral insanity referred to a type of mental disorder consisting of abnormal emotions and behaviours in the apparent absence of intellectual impairments, delusions, or hallucinations. It was an accepted diagnosis in Europe and America through the sec ...

". He developed the idea that

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

should not be regarded as a

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

, but as an innate natural property. He described

male menstruation Schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, bilharzia, and Katayama fever, is a disease caused by parasitic flatworms called schistosomes. The urinary tract or the intestines may be infected. Symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, bloody ...

as clear evidence of a continuum between male and female sexuality.Näcke, Paul (1899). The sexual perversities in the asylum. Vienna Clinical Review , No. 27-30.

Personal life

Paul Näcke was born in 1851, the son of a German father and a French mother. Näcke is said to have mastered seven languages. Näcke was married since 1886 and had several children. Throughout his life he suffered from a

neurasthenia Neurasthenia (from the Ancient Greek νεῦρον ''neuron'' "nerve" and ἀσθενής ''asthenés'' "weak") is a term that was first used at least as early as 1829 for a mechanical weakness of the nerves and became a major diagnosis in North A ...

, also known as

Effort syndrome Da Costa's syndrome (also known as "soldier's heart", cardiac neurosis, chronic asthenia, effort syndrome, functional cardiovascular disease, neurocirculatory asthenia, primary neurasthenia, subacute asthenia and irritable heart) is a psychiatr ...

. Näcke died on 18 August 1913 of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

due to

atherosclerosis Atherosclerosis is a pattern of the disease arteriosclerosis in which the wall of the artery develops abnormalities, called lesions. These lesions may lead to narrowing due to the buildup of atheroma, atheromatous plaque. At onset there are usu ...

Bibliography

*''Crime and madness in the woman'', 1894 *''On Criminal Psychology'', 1896 *''Literature report. Criminal anthropology and prison science / journal for criminal science'', 1897 *''Criminal Anthropology'' / Annual Report for Neurology and Psychiatry, 1898 *''Castration in Certain Classes of Degenerates as an Effective Social Protection'' / Archive for Criminal Anthropology and criminology, 1900 *''The accommodation of mentally ill criminals'', 1902 *''About so-called "Moral Insanity"'', 1902 * Émile Zola. ''His relationship to crime anthropology and sociology /'' Archive for Criminal Anthropology and criminology, 1903 *''Are the signs of degeneration really worthless?'' Quarterly Journal of Judicial Medicine and Public Sanitation, 1905 *''On the alleged degeneration of Romanesque peoples'', 1906 *''About family murder by mental patients'', 1908 *''Classification of Homosexuals'' / General Journal of Psychiatry, 1908 *''About Homosexuality in Albania'', 1908 *''The brain surface of paralytic'', 1909 *''The Diagnosis of Homosexuality'', 1909 *''On the Shakespeare Bacon Question'', 1910 *''Warning about the sudden adoption of sadism and masochism'' / Archive for Criminal Anthropology and criminology, 1911 *''Auto-Sadism and Suicide'' / Archive for Criminal Anthropology and criminology 1911

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nacke, Paul German psychiatrists German sexologists 1851 births 1913 deaths Physicians from Saint Petersburg Russian emigrants to Germany