Straved to death

Description

Between 1941 and 1943, 200 patients died in a sudden rise of mortality at the Vipeholm asylum in Sweden, an asylum for people deemed to be intellectually disabled, who were then classified as ‘untidy uneducable feeble-minded’. The media speculated that these deaths were the result of intentional starvation, and therefore referred to them as acts of euthanasia. This, however, has not been proven in research, which is why this project analyses the development of the care that these vulnerable citizens received within asylum care at the historical point when euthanasia may have been an option. The project takes for granted that this asylum can offer us insight into existing governance and practices, and places under scrutiny the medical superintendent of Vipeholm, Hugo Fröderberg, who was a key figure during the studied period of 1935-1963.

The project runs over four years and is organized in four interrelated studies: one deals with the part that physicians like Fröderberg played, and particularly his responsibility during the years when mortality rates increased drastically (i.e. 1941-1943); another study brings attention to the transformations that took place over time, with particular attention given to everyday practices among staff and patients at Vipeholm during 1935-1963; a third study analyses the knowledge regime regarding intellectually disabled people and euthanasia in the networks surrounding Vipeholm and Fröderberg, and finally, the fourth study focuses on establishing the cause of death for the 200 patients that lost their lives between 1941 and 1943.

The project relies on analytical tools that combine a biopolitical perspective on power and a phenomenologically inspired account of everyday life at the hospital in order to map, understand, and explain what happened. The outcomes of the project will be disseminated in articles, a book, a web page and open seminars.

For more information about the project, see Döden på Vipehilm (lu.se)