Hans Asperger facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Hans Asperger
Asperger in the 1940s
Born	Johann Friedrich Karl Asperger (1906-02-18)18 February 1906 Hausbrunn, Austria-Hungary
Died	21 October 1980(1980-10-21) (aged 74) Vienna, Austria
Education	University of Vienna
Known for	Writing on "autistic psychopathy" Eponym of Asperger syndrome
Medical career
Profession	Physician
Institutions	University Children's Hospital, Vienna
Sub-specialties	Pediatrics
Research	Autism

Hans Asperger (/ˈæspɜːrɡər/, German: [hans ˈʔaspɛɐ̯ɡɐ]; born February 18, 1906 – died October 21, 1980) was an Austrian doctor who studied children. He is known for his early work on autism, especially in kids. A type of autism, Asperger syndrome, was named after him in 1981. Today, it's usually called Autism spectrum disorder - level 1.

Asperger wrote over 300 papers about mental health issues. These became well-known around the world in the 1980s, after he had passed away. He used the term "autistic psychopathy" for his diagnosis, which caused some debate. More recently, in the late 2010s, new questions arose. People wondered if Asperger sent children to a clinic during the Nazi era where disabled patients were killed. It's still not fully clear how much he knew or was involved.

New studies of old documents show that Hans Asperger worked under his friend Franz Hamburger during the Nazi period in Austria. He advanced in his career because many Jewish doctors had to leave. He also helped choose children who were sent to the Am Spiegelgrund clinic. Sadly, some of these children died there. Whether he truly believed in Nazi ideology is still debated, especially because he was a Catholic.

Life Story

Hans Asperger was born in Hausbrunn, Austria, on February 18, 1906. He grew up on a farm nearby. He was the oldest of three sons, but his younger brother died soon after birth. As a young person, he joined a group called the Wandering Scholars of the Bund Neuland. This group organized outdoor activities like hiking. Asperger later said this group helped shape his life. This movement was connected to the Hitler Youth from the 1930s.

People described Hans Asperger as quiet and focused. He collected over 10,000 books in his personal library. He felt that reading helped him grow. His former co-workers at the children's hospital in Vienna said he often quoted famous writers, poets, or the Bible.

According to his daughter, Maria Asperger-Felder, two big things affected Hans Asperger between 1931 and 1945. One was the growth of special education (Heilpadagogik). The other was dealing with the ideas of National Socialism, also known as Nazism.

Family Life

Hans Asperger married Hanna Kalmon in 1935. They met during a mountain hike. They had five children: four daughters and one son. One of his daughters, Maria Asperger Felder, also became a well-known child psychiatrist.

Religion

Hans Asperger was a very religious Christian and a practicing Catholic. His faith was seen as a problem when the Nazis took over Austria (this was called the Anschluss).

School and Training

Hans Asperger finished high school with excellent grades on May 20, 1925. From 1916 to 1928, he studied subjects like philosophy, Latin, and ancient Greek.

Asperger studied medicine at the University of Vienna. He worked at the University Children's Hospital in Vienna. He became a doctor in 1931. In 1932, he became the director of the special education section at the university's children's clinic. He joined a political group called the Fatherland Front on May 10, 1934. This was soon after the leader of Austria, Engelbert Dollfuss, became a dictator.

Work Life

Early Years (1930-1938)

After a doctor named Clemens von Pirquet died in 1929, Franz Hamburger, who was in charge, removed Jewish doctors from the clinic. Hans Asperger got his first job in May 1931 because of this removal of Jewish doctors. He became Hamburger's assistant at the University Paediatric Clinic in Vienna.

When Erwin Lazar, the head of the special education department, died in 1932, Hans Asperger took over in May 1934 or 1935. He became the head of the special education department at the children's clinic in Vienna. His team included a Jewish psychiatrist named George Frankl and a nun, Sister Viktorine Zak. Asperger's quick rise to lead the pediatric ward was helped by the anti-Jewish policies, even though he had few publications and other candidates were more qualified.

He also worked with Erwin Jekelius, who later became a key person in the Nazi extermination policies. Asperger was interested in children with mental health challenges. He also spent time with other people who supported Nazi ideas. However, there is no clear proof that Asperger joined Nazi supporter groups before 1938.

Asperger worked mostly in Vienna. In 1934, he worked for a short time at a psychiatric clinic in Leipzig. He also spent three months at a psychiatric hospital in Vienna. He joined a nationalist and anti-Jewish German Medical Association in Austria that same year.

World War II (1939-1945)

During World War II, Asperger was a medical officer. He served where the Axis occupied Yugoslavia. His younger brother died in the Battle of Stalingrad. Near the end of the war, Asperger opened a school for children with Sister Viktorine Zak. The school was bombed and destroyed, and Viktorine was killed. Much of Asperger's early work was lost.

In 1944, Asperger published his ideas about "autistic psychopathy." This was similar to what a Russian doctor named Grunya Sukhareva had described in 1926. Asperger saw a pattern of behaviors and skills in four boys. These included "a lack of empathy, little ability to make friends, one-sided conversations, intense focus on a special interest, and clumsy movements." Asperger noticed that some of these children used their special talents as adults and had successful careers. One became a professor of astronomy and fixed a mistake in Newton's work. Another patient was the Austrian writer and Nobel Prize winner, Elfriede Jelinek.

During the Third Reich (Nazi rule), Hans Asperger, as a doctor in Vienna, made decisions about young people. He could protect them if he thought they could fit into the "national community" (Volk) of Nazi Germany. Or, he could send those he thought were too challenged to Spiegelgrund. The Am Spiegelgrund clinic was created in July 1940. It was run by Erwin Jekelius, Asperger's former colleague, who was a key figure in the terrible policies that led to many deaths.

For the last two years of the Second World War, from April 1943, Asperger was a doctor for the Wehrmacht (German armed forces). He trained for nine months and then was sent to Croatia in December 1943. His special education department was destroyed by bombing in 1944, and Sister Viktorine Zak was killed.

In 1944, after his important paper on autism, Asperger got a permanent job at the University of Vienna. Soon after the war, he became the director of a children's clinic in the city. He was also made head of pediatrics at the University of Vienna for twenty years. Later, he worked at Innsbruck.

After World War II (1945 - to death)

Hans Asperger continued his academic career after the war in 1945. He returned to the department he led, which had been destroyed. He was allowed to teach again on February 9, 1946, because he was not a member of the Nazi Party.

Between 1946 and 1949, he was the assistant director of the pediatric clinic in Vienna. In 1948, he helped start a children's clinic in Innsbruck, Austria. He was appointed to lead pediatrics at the Vienna hospital on June 26, 1962, and stayed there until he retired in 1977. In 1964, he was in charge of SOS-Kinderdorf in Hinterbrüh. That same year, he became president of the Internationalen Gesellschaft fur Heilpadagogik (International Society for Special Education).

On May 8, 1971, he became vice-president of the new Austrian Society for Allergy and Immunology.

He became a professor emeritus (retired professor) in 1977. He died three years later, on October 20, 1980, after a short illness.

Claims of Gestapo Persecution

Asperger claimed in 1962 that the Gestapo (Nazi secret police) tried to arrest him because of things he said in a 1938 speech. He also said in a 1974 interview that his mentor, Franz Hamburger, saved him from the Gestapo. He claimed he joined the army to avoid Gestapo punishment because he refused to work with Nazi ideas about who was "fit" or "unfit."

However, there is no proof in official records of any attempted arrest by the Gestapo. There's also no record that his writings were seen as against the Nazi government. In November 1940, the Vienna Gestapo said they had "nothing on him" when asked about his political views. Some historians believe this Gestapo check is why Asperger later claimed he was being persecuted. They think his Nazi mentor, Franz Hamburger, likely spoke up for him, asking him to cooperate with the government.

Nazi Involvement

Edith Sheffer, a historian, wrote in 2018 that Asperger worked with the Nazi government.

He worked under Franz Hamburger, who was a strong supporter of the Nazi Party. Asperger admired Hamburger greatly and joined organizations linked to the Nazi Party after 1938. By not joining the Nazi Party itself, Asperger chose a middle path between staying away from the new government and supporting it.

Dean Falk, an American anthropologist, has questioned the claims against Hans Asperger. Other scholars, like Ketil Slagstad, have offered different ideas about Asperger's involvement. They suggest he might have been trying to protect his career and the children he cared for during the difficult war years.

After the Anschluss (when Austria became part of Nazi Germany), Asperger, like all medical staff, was investigated. Nazi officials gave him increasingly positive reviews. His first review in June 1939 said he was "politically acceptable" and "in conformity with the racial laws of National Socialism," even though he was Catholic. In October 1940, he wrote that he had "committed himself to work for the Hitler Youth." Historians see this as an effort to fit in with the new government and protect his career. Asperger was never seen as an opponent of the Nazi government.

In 1939, he published an article with a colleague that suggested traits were inherited. This article was in a journal edited by Otmar von Verschuer, who promoted Nazi ideas about "racial hygiene."

Asperger received his academic approval in 1943, passing the political checks of the Nazi academic league.

Children Sent to Spiegelgrund

Doorstep of Am Spiegelgrund clinic

In 1940, Asperger became a medical expert in Vienna. His job was to diagnose "hereditary diseases." At that time, many people knew that more patients were dying in Vienna's mental hospitals. People protested this in September and November 1940.

Herta Schreiber, a child Asperger sent to the hospital on July 1, died there two months later on September 2. The official cause was "pneumonia."

In 1942, Asperger helped choose patients to separate those considered "unsuitable" from those who could become German citizens. He chose 35 children he thought were "unsuitable." While he was not directly responsible for their deaths, his choices led to them being sent to a place where many died.

Hansi Busztin

Asperger's department took in Hansi Busztin, a Jewish patient hiding from the Nazis, from September 1942 until the end of the war. Busztin said about a hundred people knew he was there. This department was said to house "a group of opponents of National Socialism." However, Busztin does not mention Hans Asperger's name. Asperger also never spoke about this after the war, even though it could have helped him show he was against the Nazis. Some historians think Asperger might have known about this Jewish patient but did not actively protect him. They also suggest he joined the Wehrmacht (German army) to protect himself if Busztin's presence was discovered, rather than because of Gestapo persecution. However, he also did not report the child.

Writings and Publications

Hans Asperger published 359 texts. Most of them were about "autistic psychopathy" and the idea of death. All his writings were in German.

Die "Autistischen Psychopathen" im Kindersalter

In 1943, Hans Asperger described what he called "autistic psychopathy of childhood." He studied over 200 children, including four young boys he described in detail. He saw a pattern of behaviors and skills in them, such as "lack of empathy, poor ability to make friends, one-sided conversation, strong focus on special interests, and awkward movements." Asperger called these four boys his "little teachers" because they could talk about their favorite subjects in great detail. His article was published in 1944 in a journal:

• (de) "Die 'Autistischen Psychopathen' im Kindesalter", Archiv fur Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, no 117, 1944, p.76-136 — the article appeared in 1938 in Wiener Klinischen Wochenschrift.

Other Publications

• "Leucin und Tyrosin im Ham bei Lungengeschwülsten" (in de). Klin WSCHR (Wien) 2: 1281–1284. 1930.
• Siegl (1934). "Zur Behandlung der Enuresis" (in de). Archiv für Kinderheilkunde: 88–102.
• "Das psychisch abnorme Kind" (in de). Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift 49: 1314–1317. 1938.
• ""Jugendpsychiatrie" und "Heilpädagogik"" (in de). Münch med WSCHR (Munchen, Berlin) 89: 352–356. 1942.
• "Postencephalitische Persönlichkeitsstörungen" (in de). Münch med WSCHR (München, Berlin) 91: 114–117. 1944.
• "Encephalitis im Kindesalter und Folgezustände" (in de). Wien Klin WSCHR 64 (H. 10): 171. 1952.
• Asperger, Hans (1954). "Heilpädagogische problematik der organischen hirnstorungen" (in de). Acta Psychother Psychosom Orthopedagog 2 (2): 115–126. doi:10.1159/000278416.
• "Heilpädagogik : Eine Einführung in die Psychopathologie des Kindes für Ärzte, Lehrer, Psychologen, Richter und Fürsorgerinnen" (in de) (2 ed.). Wien : Springer Verlag. 1956.
• "Die Jugendgemeinschaften als Erziehungsfaktor : Jugend in Not. Schriften zur Volksbildung des Bundesministeriums für Unterricht" (in de). Vienna. 1959.
• Laireiter, Matthias (1966) (in de). Die Fremdversorgung der Jugend. Salzburg.
• "Zur Differentialdiagnose des frühkindlichen Autismus" (in de). Acta Paedopsychiatrica 35: 136–145. 1968.
• Schmid, F (1969). "Neurologie-Psychologie-Psychiatrie" (in de). New York.
• "Kurze Geschichte der Internationalen Gesellschaft für Heilpädagogik" (in de). Heilpädagogik, Fachzeitschr. D. Österr. Ges. F. Heilpäd 4: 50–55. 1971.
• "Das Werden sozialer Einstellungen in Familie, Schule und anderen Sozialformen" (in de). Vienna. 1974.
• Asperger, H; Haider, F (1975). Österreichischer Bundesverlag. ed (in de). Leben heute - Eine Herausforderung an die Pädagogik - Tagungsbericht der 23. internationalen pädagogischen Werktagung. pp. 60–70.
• Österreichische Gesellschaft für Heilpädagogik, ed. (1978) (in de). Neue Impulse in der Heilpädagogik. Bericht des 2. Österreichischen Heilpädagogischen Kongresses.
• "Problems of infantile autism" (in en). Communication 13: 45–52. 1979.
• "50th anniversary of the death of Clemens von Pirquet" (in en). Pädiatrie und Pädologie 14 (2): 1–2. 1979.
• Asperger, H; Haider, F (1979). Selbstverlag der internationalen pädagogischen Werktagung. ed (in de). Kinderprobleme - Problemkinder - Tagungsbericht der 27.Werktagung 1978. Bd. 33. Salzburg. pp. 14–24.
• Selbstverlag der internationalen pädagogischen Werktagung, ed. (1980) (in de). Mit Konflikten umgehen - Tagungsbericht der 28. internationalen pädagogischen Werktagung. Bd. 34. Salzburg. p. 56-66.
• Asperger, H; Rothbucher, M (1981). Selbstverlag der Internationalen Pädagogischen Werktagung. ed (in de). Das rechte Mass - Hilfen zur Lebensorientierung - Tagungsbericht der 29. Werktagung 1980. Salzburg. pp. 61–71.
• Asperger, H; Wurst, F (1982). "Psychotherapie und Heilpädagogik bei Kindern" (in de). München, Wien, Baltimore.;
• Chapters:
  • "Schwierigkeiten Hochbegabter ". Psychotherapie und.... pp. 242–248.
  • "Frühkindlicher Autismus, Typ Kanner". Psychotherapie und.... pp. 286–292.
  • "Kindlicher Autismus Typ Asperger". Psychotherapie und.... pp. 293–301.

Asperger Syndrome: How it Became Known

Hans Asperger played a big part in understanding the "autism spectrum." He has often been seen as a supporter of "neurodiversity," which means valuing different ways of thinking. He died before his ideas about autism became widely known. This was partly because his work was only in German and not translated much.

After World War II, and before people could access old records about him, Hans Asperger was seen as someone who protected sick and disabled children. This view was helped by Uta Frith's book in 1991. However, another expert, Eric Schopler, suggested he was involved in Nazi programs, but couldn't prove it at the time.

Many people, including Lorna Wing and Steve Silberman, saw him as a forward-thinking person. His description of the talents of the four children in his 1944 article was first seen as a way to protect them. Some believed Asperger used Nazi-friendly language in his writings to hide his true intentions. In a 1974 interview, Asperger said that when the Nazi era came, he could accept many "national" things but not "inhumanity."

A book by John Donvan and Caren Zucker was the first in English to challenge the idea that Asperger actively fought against Nazi policies. It introduced new critical information.

Translating Asperger's Work

In 1981, English researcher Lorna Wing suggested the condition "Asperger's syndrome." Her paper challenged the earlier ideas about autism from Leo Kanner in 1943. Asperger's work was "virtually unknown" until Uta Frith translated it in 1991.

Frith noted that many basic questions about the diagnosis were unanswered. In the early 1990s, Asperger's work gained attention because of Wing's research and Frith's translation. This led to "Asperger's syndrome" being included in major medical guides like the ICD-10 in 1993 and the DSM-IV in 1994. This was about 50 years after Asperger's original research.

In his 1944 paper, as translated by Frith in 1991, Asperger wrote: "We are convinced, then, that autistic people have their place in the organism of the social community. They fulfill their role well, perhaps better than anyone else could, and we are talking of people who as children had the greatest difficulties and caused untold worries to their caregivers." However, he also said that "Unfortunately, in the majority of cases the positive aspects of autism do not outweigh the negative ones." Psychologist Eric Schopler wrote in 1998 that Asperger's publications didn't lead to much research before 1980. Instead, he said, they created confusion that grew after 1980.

Even with this brief interest in the 1990s, Asperger's syndrome remained a debated diagnosis. Its link to the wider autism spectrum was not always clear.

Views on Asperger's Work Today

In 2010, most experts agreed to combine Asperger's syndrome into the broader diagnosis of "Autistic Spectrum Disorder" in the 2013 DSM-5 guide. The World Health Organization's ICD-10 (2015 version) describes Asperger's syndrome as "a disorder of uncertain validity."

Some historians believe that while Asperger didn't openly express anti-Jewish ideas, his actions and how he treated Jewish patients showed he didn't care about their struggles. He also seemed to have some of the anti-Jewish ideas common at the time.

Some historians also believe that Hans Asperger's diagnoses were biased against girls, while others disagree. It's not surprising that his diagnoses might show the gender biases of his time.

In the first edition of Steve Silberman's book in 2015, he supported Asperger's work. He suggested that if Asperger's ideas had been used to define autism earlier, people with autism and their families might have suffered less. Also, diagnosis might have focused on strengths instead of weaknesses, and more money might have gone to supporting autistic people.

Since April 2018, Hans Asperger's legacy has been seriously questioned. This happened after new historical findings were published. Steve Silberman changed his view, noting that autistic people who once saw Asperger as an ally might feel let down.

In her book Asperger's Children, historian Edith Scheffer argues that the term "Asperger's Syndrome" should no longer be used. After reading her book, Judy Sasha Rubinsztein said she was "convinced not to use the term 'Asperger's Syndrome' because it raises the spectre of that barbaric time when medical values were distorted to support Nazi ideology." Professor Simon Baron-Cohen stated that, given the new findings, "we now need to revise our views, and probably our language as well," by only using "autism" instead of "Asperger's syndrome." However, some, like journalist Seth Mnookin, disagree with Scheffer's conclusion.

Autistic people have different reactions to the information about Hans Asperger's past. Some want to keep using the term "Asperger's syndrome," while others support dropping the name.

Did Hans Asperger Have Asperger's Syndrome?

In 2007, some experts suggested that Hans Asperger himself might have had autism. They believed he showed traits of the disorder he later described when he was a child. This idea was picked up by journalist Steve Silberman and others.

However, historian Edith Sheffer disagrees. She believes that using diagnostic criteria for Asperger's syndrome in hindsight is not helpful. She also points out that Asperger was very critical of "autistic psychopaths," so it's unlikely he would have thought he had a condition he viewed so negatively.

Some historians suggest that Asperger's religious beliefs, his education, and his cultured personality might have stopped him from fully supporting Nazism. However, they also add that his political background at the time might have made him blind to the harmful nature of National Socialism because he agreed with some of its main ideas.

See also

In Spanish: Hans Asperger para niños