Volume 217 - Issue 3 - September 2020
© Prinzhorn Collection, University Hospital Heidelberg
Sterelation/9 by Wilhelm Werner, Inventory Number 8083(2008)fol.9.
This picture is one of 44 pencil drawings by Wilhelm Werner, a psychiatric patient who was murdered by the Nazis. It is believed to be the only preserved work of visual art by the 400,000 people whom the Nazis forced to undergo sterilisation. Werner's drawings have recently been acquired by the Prinzhorn Collection at Heidelberg University Hospital in southern Germany, which is known for one of the largest collections of art by psychiatric patients in the world. Its Director is the art historian, Thomas Röske.
Born a Catholic on the 18th September 1898, Werner was diagnosed with ‘idiocy’, though this is disputed by Röske, who argues that Werner could read and write. In October 1940, when he was 42, Werner was transported to Pirna Sonnenstein asylum, near Dresden. He was subsequently murdered in its gas chambers as part of the Nazis' ‘euthansia’ extermination programme.
Werner's drawings depict scenes from the sterilisation clinic. This drawing shows a contraption labelled ‘Sterelation’, which was his term for sterilisation. Inside sits a nurse with a white hat, whilst on top there is a clown-like figure, who clutches a sharp implement and a book displaying a cross, while his other hand holds a testicle next to a plate containing more testicles. Outside, a second nurse holds a cross and a holy book. Werner depicts sterilisation as a literal castration, though as Röske points out, the Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring only stated that patients should be rendered infertile.
We are always looking for interesting and visually appealing images for the cover of the Journal and would welcome suggestions or pictures, which should be sent to Dr Allan Beveridge, British Journal of Psychiatry, 21 Prescot Street, London, E1 8BB, UK or bjp@rcpsych.ac.uk.
Highlights of this issue
Highlights of this issue
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- 28 August 2020, p. A35
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Editorial
What kind of in-patient psychiatry for Africa? Report from Zimbabwe
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- 06 January 2020, pp. 467-468
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Questioning the status of aberrant speech patterns as psychiatric symptoms
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- 26 March 2020, pp. 469-470
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Safe and informed prescribing of psychotropic medication during the COVID-19 pandemic
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- 04 May 2020, pp. 471-474
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Three challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic represents for psychiatry
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- 15 May 2020, pp. 475-476
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Papers
Effectiveness of a volunteer befriending programme for patients with schizophrenia: randomised controlled trial
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- 04 March 2019, pp. 477-483
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Early intervention in psychosis: health economic evaluation using the net benefit approach in a real-world setting
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- 24 July 2019, pp. 484-490
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Ten-year employment patterns of patients with first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: comparison of early intervention and standard care services
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- 09 July 2019, pp. 491-497
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In the aftermath of clozapine discontinuation: comparative effectiveness and safety of antipsychotics in patients with schizophrenia who discontinue clozapine
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- 08 January 2020, pp. 498-505
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A retrospective study of intramuscular clozapine prescription for treatment initiation and maintenance in treatment-resistant psychosis
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- 01 July 2020, pp. 506-513
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Comparison of clinical outcomes following 2 years of treatment of first-episode psychosis in urban early intervention services in Canada and India
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- 06 July 2020, pp. 514-520
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Analysis
Insight and psychosis: the next 30 years
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- 18 October 2019, pp. 521-523
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Corrigendum
Psychological distress after the Great East Japan Earthquake: two multilevel 6-year prospective analyses — CORRIGENDUM
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- 26 May 2020, p. 525
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Ten Books
Ten books
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- 28 August 2020, pp. 526-528
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Book Reviews
Ecology of the Brain By Thomas Fuchs. Oxford University Press. 2018. $46.95 (pb). 336 pp. ISBN 9780199646883
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- 28 August 2020, p. 529
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The Politics of Autism By Bryna Siegel Oxford University Press, 2018. £19.99 (hb) 352 pp. ISBN 9780199360994
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- 28 August 2020, pp. 529-530
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Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope
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- 28 August 2020, pp. 532-533
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Extras
Under my grandmother's scarf: the healing effects of performance art – psychiatry in theatre
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- 28 August 2020, p. 474
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David Hume and the ‘Disease of the Learned’ – psychiatry in philosophy
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- 28 August 2020, p. 524
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The West Riding of Yorkshire pauper Lunatic Asylum at Wakefield, 1814–1995 – psychiatry in pictures
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- 28 August 2020, p. 534
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