Lecture, discussion and commemoration

Free admission - made possible by the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald

Under National Socialism, people in exceptional psychological situations and with mental or physical illnesses were affected by structural persecution. The acts of violence against them became increasingly radical. Forced sterilisations, deportations and killings took place in the Pomeranian provincial association. This association included psychiatric institutions in Ueckermünde, Stralsund, Lauenburg (Lębork), Treptow an der Rega (Trzebiatów) and Meseritz-Obrawalde (Międzyrzecz). One of those mainly responsible was the Gauleiter of Pomerania, Franz Schwede-Coburg, who ordered the deportation of patients immediately after the outbreak of the Second World War. The first victims included 1,400 mentally ill and mentally impaired people. They were murdered in the forests near Piasnitz (Piaśnica) in the autumn and winter of 1939. An estimated 20,000 mentally ill people in Pomeranian asylums were to suffer a similar fate between 1940 and 1945.

In a wide-ranging study, Dr Kathleen Haack traces the development of psychiatry in Ueckermünde and Pomerania. In her book, she searches for individual traces and recalls the suffering of those who were forgotten. At the same time, the importance of regional actors as executing members of the overall Nazi system and at the same time autonomous actors in the implementation of health and racial policy is emphasised.

In memory of the victims of the National Socialist murder of the sick, the evening will conclude with pieces by Luise Greger. The songs will be sung by Mechthild Kornow with piano accompaniment.

In cooperation with the Cultural Officer for Pomerania and East Brandenburg, the Equal Opportunities Officer of the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald, the Institute for Ethics and History of Medicine at the University of Greifswald and the Society for Pomeranian History, Antiquities and Art.