1914: Shell-Shocked Soldiers

During and after the First World War, the term “Kriegszitterer” (“tremblers”) was introduced to describe those soldiers who had lost physical control of their bodies as a result of psychological overload, noise and shock waves experienced on the front. The Allies named this phenomenon shell shock. The number of affected individuals was in the millions, although the term itself had unclear boundaries as the majority of soldiers returned from the front with psychological damages.

While affected officers were remedied with baths and sedatives, simple soldiers were “treated” with extremely painful electric shocks; this was meant to expose possible fakes, who would then be sent back to the front. Julius Wagner-Jauregg was particularly active in administering electric shock “treatments”. But in 1920, he was acquitted of a charge of breach of duty, not least because of a favourable, albeit reserved, expert opinion by Sigmund Freud.

Karl Kraus placed a silent monument to the Kriegszitterern in his play “The Final Days of Mankind” („Letzten Tagen der Menschheit“).