[The "Hilfsverein für Geisteskranke" in the Kingdom of Saxony, a Philantropic Organisation for the Mentally Ill].

Abstract

This article provides an overwiew of the history of the "Hilfsverein für Geisteskranke" in the Kingdom of Saxony (later Free State of Saxony) from its foundation in 1898 until its probable dissolution during World War II. The "Hilfsverein" was a philantropic organization that aimed to provide support for the mentally ill and their relatives through financial aid and education. It relied on a network of representatives spanning all of Saxony´s regions. Its work continued during the Weimar Republic after World War I, though by then it had lost influence due to economic loss and other structures of public welfare being established. In the context of the rise in eugenic and social darwinist tendencies during the 1920s, the implications of "racial hygiene" and hereditability came to be discussed among its members. After the takeover of the National Socialist Party in 1933, the "Hilfsverein" was forcibly assimilated into the Nazi welfare system and used to propagate racial ideology.