Hans Asperger en de nazi-ideologie

Hans Asperger worked under the Nazi regime when he first made his theory of autism public. Following publications in 2018 by historians Herwig Czech and Edith Sheffer, it was claimed in the international scientific literature and in Dutch newspapers that (1) Hans Asperger cooperated with the Nazis and (2) that his theory of autism was based on Nazi ideology. In this article, I will add more nuance to these claims by separating them more clearly. The first claim can very well be researched by social historians. In the first part of the article, I summarize the main points of their most recent contributions. My focus is on the second claim, which requires additional research by conceptual historians. Here, I offer my own contribution, analysing the conceptual structure of Asperger’s work, its development and its main influences. I will show that his theory of autism was not based on Nazi ideology, even though he worked within the context of Nazi psychiatry.