The Village in Court Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The breakup of the village
- PART I PEASANT SOCIETY AND THE INDIVIDUAL
- 1 Fire in the village
- 2 The mad-doctor's gaze
- PART II THE STATUS OF WOMEN AND THE PLACE OF CHILDREN
- PART III THE DISPUTED BOUNDARIES OF THE VILLAGE
- Conclusion: On the threshold between two worlds
2 - The mad-doctor's gaze
from PART I - PEASANT SOCIETY AND THE INDIVIDUAL
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The breakup of the village
- PART I PEASANT SOCIETY AND THE INDIVIDUAL
- 1 Fire in the village
- 2 The mad-doctor's gaze
- PART II THE STATUS OF WOMEN AND THE PLACE OF CHILDREN
- PART III THE DISPUTED BOUNDARIES OF THE VILLAGE
- Conclusion: On the threshold between two worlds
Summary
The arsonist Josef Riessl, the 20-year-old son of a cottager, a farmhand in Emmerich, was finally referred, by the assize court of the Munich II District Court, for observation to the district lunatic asylum, where he was examined from 4 July until 14 August 1900. If he was shown to be mentally defective, it might, after all, be possible to take mitigating circumstances into account. The report stated that he was
small in stature, and his physical development … clearly retarded in relation to his age. His legs are very short, and his upper body is comparatively long; his hands and feet are also disproportionately large. His head is conspicuously round in shape, his face is asymmetric and, in addition to the snub, upturned nose, is disfigured by the protrusion of his upper jaw and lower lip. The accused's facial expression, normally dull and rather childlike, becomes downright stupid when he distorts his fece into a broad smile, which he does at every opportunity. Furthermore, he displays other so-called signs of degeneration: grossly malformed ears, very high, raised palate, protruding os incisivum, lack of body hair. … Both physically and intellectually Riessl presents the classic picture of the idiot.
This text is an extract from an attempt to explain an arson attack. It claims to have discovered the truth. The psychiatrist, or Irrenarzt, (mad-doctor) describes in his report for the state prosecutor the body of the farmhand and arsonist Josef Riessl in order to show that what was a human disaster to the “layman,” – to the villagers surrounding Riessl – actually concealed the act of an idiot.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Village in CourtArson, Infanticide, and Poaching in the Court Records of Upper Bavaria 1848–1910, pp. 58 - 76Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994