[The medical history of Elsa Asenijeff in the context of the Saxon psychiatric institution and care system from the 1920s to 1941].

AIM

This article aims to describe and discuss in detail the psychiatric medical history of the writer Elsa Asenijeff (1867-1941) in different mental institutions in the German state of Saxony.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

What can be discovered in preserved archive documents about the placement of Elsa Asenijeff in different mental institutions between 1923 and 1941? What is the historical context in which this individual medical history took place?

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Through systematic research in different archives a part of Elsa Asenijeffs medical records and relevant administrative files of the institutions could be found.

RESULTS

The preserved documents provide an insight into the statements of the physicians and the conditions of Elsa Asenijeffs placement in the institutions of that time.

CONCLUSION

The findings of our research suggest that, at least since 1927, Elsa Asenijeff was kept in mental institutions primarly for being an unmarried, destitute and more or less isolated woman. In other words, her stay was justified with social and not psychiatric-medical arguments.