Abstract:
This contribution deals with a special form of childhood medicalization: the pathologisation of abnormal behaviour of children in Austria after 1945. Presenting the case of the Innsbruck Child Observation Ward, founded in 1954, it shows how the Austrian therapeutic pedagogy landscape developed and for which functions the centres of child observation served: as locations between psychiatric care, curative pedagogy, medical care and examination, observation, treatment and assessment of children and teenagers who were considered difficult and abnormal. Biographical notes on the leading figure of the Innsbruck system, neurologist and pedagogic therapist Maria Nowak-Vogl, illustrate the deep entanglements with the regional institutions for child and youth welfare. The second part focuses on the dimension and effect of the Innsbruck Child Observation Ward’s activities. This section concentrates on placement numbers and ages, length of stay and origin, accommodation arrangements of the children before their placement in the Child Observation Ward as well as the measures recommended by Nowak-Vogl. The fourth section deals with the experience of 19 contemporary witnesses. As independent sources of knowledge, their memories provide insights into the Child Observation Ward’s system as well as the actions of the professional actors. The primary source basis comprises samples from more than 3,500 medical records, institutional documents and interviews with affected persons.