Hans Asperger (1906–1980)

In 1932 Asperger became director of the Department of Therapeutic Education at the Children’s Clinic at the University of Vienna. In 1943 he was awarded the university teaching qualification on the basis of his research into an autistic syndrome that was subsequently named after him—Asperger’s Syndrome. Asperger was not a member of the Nazi Party but adapted his therapeutic education to the ideology of the Nazi regime. Evaluations he wrote on children with severe disabilities resulted in their murder. Files from the personnel office of the Gau Wien, the Nazi Party administrative district covering Vienna, show that he agreed with the practice of forced sterilisation on racist grounds.

After the war Asperger’s career continued without a break. From 1957 to 1962 he was director of the Innsbruck Children’s Clinic and, from 1962, Professor of Paediatrics and director of the University Children’s Clinic in Vienna. In 1971 he was awarded the Golden Medal of Honour of the City of Vienna.