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Progress and atrocity: the dual psychiatric legacy of Vienna's Steinhof Hospital

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2023

Alexander Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, Email: [email protected]
Robert Van Voren
Affiliation:
Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania
Michael Liebrenz
Affiliation:
Department of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
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Abstract

Type
Correspondence
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that no alterations are made and the original article is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained prior to any commercial use and/or adaptation of the article.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal College of Psychiatrists

Vienna was the world capital of psychoanalysis in the early 1900s, stimulating a burgeoning interest in the mind. Yet, these intellectual movements would be supplanted by state-sponsored repression after Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria in 1938 (the Anschluss). Vienna's Steinhof Hospital for psychiatric patients encapsulated these conflicting paradigms, providing a venue first for enlightened aspirations and subsequently for physician-assisted atrocities. As Vienna hosts the 2023 World Congress of Psychiatry, we wish to highlight Steinhof's poignant legacy, which should serve to reinforce the importance of compassion and human rights in contemporary care.

Founded in 1907, Steinhof represented psychiatric ideals circulating around fin de siècle Vienna and beyond.Reference Topp1 The hospital was predicated on modernist plans following consultations between the architect Otto Wagner (1841–1918) and other stakeholders.Reference Topp1 Wagner's schemes promoted symbiotic connections between mental health and architecture, challenging conventional prison-like settings; notably, only 50 years before Steinhof's foundation, patients were routinely held in chains in Vienna's Narrenturm (mad tower).Reference Glass2

Wagner sought to create conducive therapeutic environments by combining functionality with aesthetics. To that end, Steinhof's pavilions comprised light, open spaces, supplemented by an Art Nouveau style that even extended to the window bars.Reference Glass2 Steinhof's location atop hills overlooking Vienna was intended to promote well-being and healing, as were its formal gardens.Reference Glass2,Reference Regal and Nanut3 Further, the complex contained a theatre and a church specifically designed for psychiatric patients; today, the latter remains as a striking example of Catholic Art Nouveau. In the ensuing years, Steinhof received acclaim from visiting physicians for these progressive features.Reference Topp1

However, post-Anschluss, Steinhof was implicated in the Nazi's T4 programme, a campaign of involuntary euthanasia for individuals with mental and physical disabilities (lebensunwertes Leben – ‘life unworthy of life’). This resulted in the transportation of approximately 3000 Steinhof patients to killing centres in 1940. Thereafter, Steinhof housed children with mental health disorders in an institution named Am Spiegelgrund.Reference Glass2 Here, psychiatrists would provide evaluations involving measures of physical and mental health and socioeconomic factors, somewhat prefiguring the comprehensive nature of contemporary functional capacity assessments. During this process, those children considered to be lebensunwertes Leben per Nazi ideology were euthanised.Reference Neugebauer and Stacher5

Harrowingly, over 750 child patients were murdered in Am Spiegelgrund. Others suffered fatal consequences from inhumane experimental procedures, including pneumoencephalographies, electroshock therapy and forced overdoses.Reference Thomas, Beres and Shevell4,Reference Neugebauer and Stacher5 Death certificates were fabricated, and families would be requested to pay for their child's ‘care’.Reference Thomas, Beres and Shevell4 Nazi defeat saw Am Spiegelgrund's closure and punitive measures enacted for several psychiatrists complicit in the atrocities.Reference Neugebauer and Stacher5 Yet, according to Neugebauer and Stacher, one of Am Spiegelgrund's directors, Heinrich Gross (1915–2005), continued to study victims’ brains long after this, even obtaining funding grants.Reference Neugebauer and Stacher5 Equally, many psychiatrists who conducted assessments would also continue practising post-war. Only in the 21st century were the children's remains buried and a memorial established (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Art Nouveau theatre and Spiegelgrund memorial. 2007. Muesse. Reproduced under a CC-BY license.

In modern contexts, we encourage psychiatrists and others to visit Steinhof and consider how a symbol of progressive approaches became a venue for physician-assisted abuses; given global authoritarian trends, such reflections may be increasingly resonant. For us, Steinhof's dual legacy offers a timely reminder of lessons from psychiatric history, reinforcing the necessity of professional and ethical principles underpinned by morality, dignity and human rights.

Declaration of interest

None

References

Topp, L. Otto Wagner and the Steinhof Psychiatric Hospital: architecture as misunderstanding. Art Bull 2005; 87(1): 130–56.10.1080/00043079.2005.10786232CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glass, N. The restoration of a historic psychiatric hospital. Lancet 2001; 357(9250): 151–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Regal, W, Nanut, M. Vienna – A Doctor's Guide. Springer, 2007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, FP, Beres, A, Shevell, MI. “A cold wind coming”: Heinrich Gross and child euthanasia in Vienna. J Child Neurol 2006; 21(4): 342–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neugebauer, W, Stacher, G. Nazi child ‘euthanasia’ in Vienna and the scientific exploitation of its victims before and after 1945. Dig Dis 1999; 17(5–6): 279–85.10.1159/000016950CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Figure 0

Fig. 1 Art Nouveau theatre and Spiegelgrund memorial. 2007. Muesse. Reproduced under a CC-BY license.

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