Between fiction and reality: Herwig Hamperl (1899-1976) and the Third Reich as reflected in his autobiography

Abstract

Herwig Hamperl is undoubtedly one of the most influential and prominent representatives of German pathology in the 20th century. Interestingly, he left behind an autobiography (1972) which provides information not only about pathology in the Third Reich and in post-war Germany, but above all about his own life and work. His memoirs primarily served the purpose of recording his life's work for posterity and of retaining it in collective memory. This article focuses specifically on Hamperl's description of the Third Reich. The overriding aim of the paper is to elaborate on his political role and his relationship to National Socialism, which has hardly been investigated to date. Hamperl's autobiographical statements on this very question are therefore compared with the historical facts and - where necessary - contrasted and corrected. The same applies to the image that Hamperl draws of those pathologists who were part of his professional and personal network. The study is partly based on previously unevaluated archive sources and on a reanalysis of the relevant research literature. The paper concludes that Hamperl practised pronounced "self-fashioning": His memoirs give the impression of being formally and linguistically smoothened out and are clearly misleading in terms of content. They are characterised by omissions, ornamentation, and embellishments. Thus Hamperl makes false statements on the question of his NSDAP membership and depicts himself as a politically uninvolved university teacher. Furthermore, even in retrospect, he makes hardly any critical remarks on Nazi ideology and Nazi crimes.

Keywords: Autobiography; Denazification; Herwig Hamperl; NSDAP; Pathology and National Socialism.