The Heidelberg Psychohistory Conference

Dear Editor,

I hope our American psychohistorians will find a report of this year’s German Society for Psychohistory and Political Psychology (GPPP) conference to be of interest. Its theme was “The Female-Motherly and Childhood Dimension in the Life of the Individual and in the Course of Human History.” It was the 33^rd annual GPPP meeting, taking place on April 5-7, 2019 (Friday-Sunday) at the Institut für medizinische Psychologie of the University of Heidelberg. The proceedings were in German.

The conference began with Heinrich Reiß, Ludwig Janus, and Peter Petschauer leading the annual membership meeting. One of the main decisions of the meeting was to invite Doris Dietzel-Wolf into the leadership and to accept her proposal to lead the 2020 GPPP conference in Heidelberg with the working title of “On the Path to Motherless Society.” All told, about 130 persons attended the main meeting with Ludwig Janus moderating the entire conference; the GPPP gained 15 new members this year. Although this year the International Psychohistorical Association (IPA) conference in New York had a larger attendance, in recent years the GPPP has had a larger turnout.

Janus opened the conference with the topic “The Psychodynamics at the Beginning of an Individual’s Life and the History of Human Societies.” Other Friday afternoon topics included Helga Krüger-Kim’s “The Modern Discourse about Female and Motherly Identity” and Peter Petschauer’s “The Inner Strength of Mothers During Difficult Times.” Petschauer highlighted the significant role of women in the preservation of families and the reconstruction of West Germany after WWII.

Saturday began with a review of “The Matriarchal Literature that Explores the First Chapter of Human History.” Later that morning, Sarah Burgard spoke about “The Prenatal Relationship Between Mother and Child – The First Chapter of the Story of a Life” and Renate Hochauf with “The Vulnerability at the Beginning of Life and the Responsibility of Society.”

After lunch, Frank Horstmann spoke about “Stone Carvings as a Reflection of the Appearance of Life.” He reinterpreted early store carvings and argued that many are images of fertilization, penises, and vulvae. Dragana Djordjevic followed with “The Neonate and its

Page 121

Mother.” Later Christian Lackner followed with “An Overview of the History of Interactions Between the History of Childhood and that of Societies.” A panel discussion with the presenters concluded the activities for the day. The final day began with Claudia von Werthof’s “Overview of the Critiques of Patriarchy,” and concluded the formal presentation with Johanna Schacht’s “The Dimension of Money in Prenatal Psychology and the History of Matriarchy.”

Early on, Heinrich Reiß introduced two colleagues. One was the document filmmaker Ernst-August Zurborn with his films, among others, The First of all Worlds, the work of a woman who prepared women for birth, of forensic doctors, and the world of serial killers. The other was GPPP member Sven Fuchs who has been hosting a German-language psychohistorical blog and is the author most recently of the book, Childhood is Political (Die Kindheit ist politisch–2019).

Full details of the conference may be accessed on the GPPP website and presentation papers can be submitted for publication to the Jahrbuch für Psychohistorische Forschung (www.mattes.de). It is good to know that psychohistory is thriving in Germany.

Sincerely yours

Page 122