Shock To Shreck Killen

From Shock to Schreck: Psychiatrists, Telephone Operators and Traumatic Neurosis in
Germany, 1900-26
Author(s): Andreas Killen
Source: Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Apr., 2003), pp. 201-220
Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3180655
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Journal
Journal of
of Contemporary
ContemporaryHistory
HistoryCopyright
Copyright
? 2003
? 2003
SAGE
SAGE
Publications,
Publications,
London,
London,
Thousand
Thousand
Oaks,Oaks,
CA and
CA and
New
New Delhi,
Delhi, Vol
Vol38(2),
38(2),201-220.
201-220.
[0022-0094(200304)38:2;201-220;032130]
[0022-0094(200304)38:2;201-220;032130]
Andreas Killen
From Shock to Schreck: Psychiatrists,

Telephone Operators and Traumatic
Neurosis in Germany, 1900-26
In the summer of 1911, Fraulein Theodora F., a telephone operator in

Gottingen, had an accident at work caused by what she described as an
'electric shock in the left ear'. She was unable to work for almost two months.
Six months after returning to her job, she had a second accident, which she
described as being caused by 'crackling in the receiver as a result of atmospheric
electricity'. As a result of this second 'nervous shock', Fraulein F. entered a

sanatorium for a two-month stay paid for by the German accident insurance
system. She was diagnosed as suffering from 'general nervous exhaustion of a
hysterical character resulting from accident'.1
The case of Theodora F. was not unusual. During the first decades of the
twentieth century, many of the women who staffed Germany's telephone
exchanges reported occurrences similar to hers. These women became a
familiar sight in doctors' consulting rooms and clinics, routinely presenting
themselves with the complaint: 'I received an electric shock (Ich babe Strom
bekommen).'2 This article places the emergence of this new species of technological malady within the context of contemporaneous debates in Germany
about work, social insurance, gender, and the accidents, shocks and afflictions
of industrial society. It examines the way in which the disease-picture

surrounding this malady became the site of medical and legal conflicts of inter-
pretation that cast doubt on the legitimacy of this picture and, ultimately,
recast the medical paradigm underlying it in a way that made operators
themselves responsible for their illnesses. Focusing on interactions between

telephone operators and psychiatrists, this article connects these developments
with the construction and dismantling of the clinical entity known as 'traumatic neurosis' (precursor of today's post-traumatic stress disorder). First
identified in 1889 as a syndrome whose diagnosis entitled patients to insurance benefits, traumatic (or accident) neurosis spread to almost epidemic
proportions through German society, until being legislated out of existence
in 1926. Conceived originally as a quintessential malady of technological

modernity, it was ultimately reduced to a pseudo-illness, a by-product of acci-
dent insurance law. As one doctor employed by the imperial ministry that
1 Bundesarchiv Potsdam, Reichspostministerium (hereafter RPM) 47.01, 14577, 'Unfallfursorge fur Beamtinnen', Bd. 7, 1913-14, Bl. 167-74.
2 Martin Bernhardt, Betriebsunfdlle der Telephonistinnen (Berlin 1906), 9.
202
Journal of Contemporary History Vol 38 No 2
oversaw Germany's telephone system put it in 1926: 'The causes of the

emergence of the so-called accident neuroses lie in our laws.'3 Lastly, this
article relates this development to a shift in the way that self, body and
machine were configured in German psychiatric discourse, and touches briefly
on the question of how this shift was connected with cultural conflicts
between mechanist and vitalist conceptions of the self.
As is well known, late nineteenth-century German bourgeois consciousness

was marked by the belief that modern civilization produced nervous illness.
Medical responses to this belief took hold in a variety of discourses, institutions and therapies, whose emergence in the years after the founding of the
Empire in 1870 institutionalized this coupling of modernity and nervous illness in German society. The single most important development in this regard
was the passage of Germany's accident insurance laws in the 1880s. To the
vast literature on hysteria and neurasthenia this added an important new syndrome associated with the sequelae of industrial accidents: traumatic neurosis.
Formal recognition of traumatic neurosis as a compensatable illness in 1889
ensured its spread to Germany's working classes, managed under the auspices
of a network of insurance boards, certifying physicians and courts of arbitra-
tion. If nervousness had once been a part of the cultural property of the
bourgeoisie, it now became a condition of the masses.4
A central feature of this discourse about modernity and nervous affliction
was its relation to the notion of shock. First introduced into psychiatric termi-
nology in the 1870s and 1880s, shock meant a sudden concussion or jolt of
such force that, though it left no visible injury, could result in serious nervous
disturbances. The term initially gained currency in the arena of railway medi-
3 RPM 47.01, 14575/1, 'Schreckwirkung als Ursache nervoser Storung', Bl. 234.
4 For surveys of this subject which treat it largely as a bourgeois phenomenon, see Joachim
Radkau, Zeitalter der Nervositit: Deutschland zwischen Bismarck und Hitler (Miinchen 1998);
Edward Shorter, From Paralysis to Fatigue: A History of Psychosomatic Illness in the Modern Era
(New York 1992), 201-32. Recent scholarship has begun to pay more attention to the spread of
nervous disorders among Germany's working classes. See Heinz-Peter Schmiedebach, 'PostTraumatic Neurosis in Nineteenth-Century Germany: A Disease in Political, Juridical and
Professional Context', History of Psychiatry, 10, 1 (1999), 27-58; Greg Eghigian, 'Die Burokratie
und das Entstehen von Krankheit: Die Politik und die "Rentenneurosen" 1890-1926' in J.
Reulecke and A. Grafin zu Castell Rudenhausen (eds), Stadt und Gesundheit. Zum Wandel von
'Volksgesundheit' und kommunaler Gesundheitspolitik im 19. und friihen 20. Jahrhundert
(Stuttgart 1991), 203-23; idem, 'Hysteria, Insurance, and the Rise of the Pathological Welfare
State in Germany 1884-1926' (unpublished paper, 1993); idem, 'The German Welfare State as a
Discourse of Trauma' (unpublished paper, 1995); Gabrielle Moser, 'Der Arzt im Kampf gegen
"Begehrlichkeit und Rentensucht" im deutschen Kaiserreich und in der Weimarer Republik',
Jahrbuch fur kritische Medizin, 16 (1992), 161-83. For comparison with the American context,
see also Eric M. Kaplan, 'Trains, Brains, and Sprains: Railway Spine and the Origins of
Psychoneuroses', Bulletin for the History of Medicine (1995), 387-419; Allan Young, The
Harmony of Illusions: Inventing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Princeton, NJ 1995).
Killen: From Shock to Schreck
203
cine,
cine, but
but soon
soonentered
enteredinto
into
broader
broader
consciousness
consciousness
of the
of the
new new
kindskinds
of risk
of and
risk and
calamity
calamity to
towhich
whichmodern
modern
life
life
exposed
exposed
individuals.5
individuals.5
Shock
Shock became
becamea acrucial
crucialterm
term
in in
conceptualizing
conceptualizing
the the
social
social
and and
psychological
psychological
dislocations
dislocationsof
ofindustrial
industrial
society.
society.
ByBy
bringing
bringing
the the
accident
accident
into into
a clear
a clear
causalcausal
relation
relation with
withthe
thepathological
pathological
reaction,
reaction,
thethe
notion
notion
of shock
of shock
played
played
a keya role
key role
in the
the construction
constructionofoftraumatic
traumatic
neurosis
neurosis
as an
as externally-produced,
an externally-produced,
thus thus
compensatable
compensatablecondition.6
condition.6
This
This
somatic,
somatic,
mechanistic
mechanistic
model
model
couldcould
include
include
a
a
psychological
psychologicaldimension,
dimension,whose
whose
importance
importance
waswas
disputed
disputed
by leading
by leading
neuroloneurolo-
gists
gists like
like Jean-Martin
Jean-MartinCharcot
Charcot
and
and
Hermann
Hermann
Oppenheim.
Oppenheim.
But But
it was
it the
was the
notion's
notion's mechanistic
mechanisticunderpinnings
underpinnings
that
that
made
made
it aitpowerful
a powerful
heuristic
heuristic
for the
for the
traumatizing
traumatizingpotential
potentialofof
modern
modern
existence.
existence.
ForFor
Sigmund
Sigmund
Freud,
Freud,
it meant
it meant
a
a
dangerous
dangerousstimulus
stimulusthat
thatbreached
breached
thethe
psyche's
psyche's
defences;
defences;
for for
Walter
Walter
Benjamin,
Benjamin,
it meant
meant the
theloss
lossofofthe
thebody's
body's
'aura'.
'aura'.
YetYet
forfor
all its
all discursive
its discursive
force,
force,
the term's
the term's
legitimacy
legitimacyrested
restedon
onfragile
fragile
foundations.
foundations.
As As
both
both
clinical
clinical
construct
construct
and culand cultural
tural phenomenon,
phenomenon,shock
shock
and
and
itsits
sequelae
sequelae
remained
remained
subject
subject
to challenge.
to challenge.
As As
early
early as
as 1900
1900psychiatrists
psychiatrists
like
like
Emil
Emil
Kraepelin
Kraepelin
were
were
advocating
advocating
the replacethe replacement
ment of
of the
thediagnosis
diagnosis'accident
'accident
neurosis'
neurosis'
with
with
'fear
'fear
neurosis',
neurosis',
in keeping
in keeping
with with
their
their view
viewthat
thatinternal
internalrather
rather
than
than
external
external
conditions
conditions
played
played
the decisive
the decisive
role role
in the
the genesis
genesisof
ofsuch
suchdisorders.
disorders.
In In
succeeding
succeeding
decades,
decades,
physicians
physicians
turned
turned
their their
attention
attention increasingly
increasinglytoto
those
those
internal
internal
conditions,
conditions,
focusing
focusing
on such
on such
factors
factors
as
as
hereditary
hereditaryweakness
weaknessororpredisposition,
predisposition,
fear,
fear,
sexual
sexual
disorders
disorders
and the
and wish
the wish
for for
a pension.
pension.But
Butthis
thisshift
shiftremained
remained
contentious
contentious
until
until
the the
firstfirst
world
world
war, war,
and and
only
only achieved
achievedfinality
finalityinin
1926,
1926,
when
when
Germany's
Germany's
insurance
insurance
courts
courts
rewrote
rewrote
the the
laws
laws on
on accident
accidentneurosis.
neurosis.
From
From 1900
1900onward,
onward,the
theyoung
young
women
women
employed
employed
at Germany's
at Germany's
telephone
telephone
exchanges
exchangesin
inever-increasing
ever-increasing
numbers
numbers
(over
(over
65,000
65,000
by 1924)
by 1924)
added
added
an imporan important
tant new
new figure
figuretotomedical
medical
debates
debates
about
about
shock,
shock,
overwork,
overwork,
fatigue
fatigue
and indusand industrial
trial accidents.
accidents.As
Asemployees,
employees,
these
these
women
women
provided
provided
inexpensive
inexpensive
labour
labour
and and
were
were considered
consideredideally
ideallysuited
suited
to to
thethe
demands
demands
of this
of this
repetitive,
repetitive,
monotonous
monotonous
work.
work. They
Theywere
wereprized
prizedfor
for
the
the
melodious
melodious
properties
properties
of their
of their
voices
voices
as well
as as
well as
for
for their
their courteous
courteousbehaviour.
behaviour.
AsAs
distinctively
distinctively
modern
modern
social
social
typestypes
they they
also also
aroused
aroused intense
intenseinterest
interestamong
among
a wide
a wide
range
range
of medical
of medical
authorities
authorities
and culand cultural
tural commentators.7
commentators.7By
By
the
the
1920s
1920s
they
they
were
were
perceived
perceived
as emblematic
as emblematic
'New 'New
5 Wolfgang
WolfgangSchivelbusch,
Schivelbusch,
The
The
Railway
Railway
Journey:
Journey:
TheThe
Industrialization
Industrialization
of Time
of Time
and Space
and in
Space
the in the
Nineteenth
NineteenthCentury
Century(Berkeley,
(Berkeley,
CACA
1986),
1986),
106-51;
106-51;
Esther
Esther
Fischer-Homberger,
Fischer-Homberger,
Die traumatische
Die traumatische
Neurosen:
Neurosen:Vom
Vomsomatischen
somatischen
zum
zum
sozialen
sozialen
Leiden
Leiden
(Bern
(Bern
1975).
1975).
6 See,
See, for
forinstance,
instance,Johannes
Johannes
Rigler,
Rigler,
Uber
Uber
die die
Folgen
Folgen
der der
Verletzungen
Verletzungen
auf Eisenbahnen,
auf Eisenbahnen,
insbesondere
insbesonderedie
dievon
vonder
derRiickenmarks,
Riickenmarks,
mitmit
Hinblick
Hinblick
auf auf
das Haftpflichtgesetzes
das Haftpflichtgesetzes
(Berlin(Berlin
1879); 1879);
G.H.
G.H. Groeningen,
Groeningen,Uber
Uberden
den
Shock
Shock
(Wiesbaden
(Wiesbaden
1885);
1885);
Hermann
Hermann
Oppenheim,
Oppenheim,
Die traumatische
Die traumatische
Neurose
Neurose (Berlin
(Berlin1889).
1889).For
For
a' a'
detailed
detailed
account
account
of the
of the
term's
term's
history
history
see Fischer-Homberger,
see Fischer-Homberger,
op.
op.
cit., 36-56.
7 The literature on operators includes Ursula Nienhaus' excellent Vater Staat und seine
Gehilfinnen: Die Politik mit der Frauenarbeit bei der deutschen Post (1864-1945) (Frankfurt/
204
Women' and as members of what psycho-technician Fritz Giese called

'Girlkultur', the feminized mass urban culture of that decade. Critic Siegfried
Kracauer placed them within the social orbit of the 'salaried masses' that
formed the core of Weimar's pleasure-seeking, anomic, bureaucratized society.
Interested in the effects of rationalization - time and motion studies, reaction
time and aptitude tests - on their personality structures and their attitudes
towards politics, marriage and leisure, Kracauer identified these women as
kindred spirits of the Tiller Girls, the synchronized American dance troupe
which created a sensation in Germany during this period. Like the Tiller Girls,
operators epitomized for Kracauer the serialized individuals and 'girl-clusters'

of modern society.8
Switchboard work was attractive to young unmarried women of the lowermiddle classes because it offered financial independence and social status.
Despite the aura of novelty and glamour, however, it was not easy work.
Indeed it was widely acknowledged that this new form of mental labour or
'brain-work' was uniquely demanding of employees. Answering up to 150
calls an hour for 8 hours at a stretch was a feat requiring both great stamina
and enormous powers of concentration. 'What over-exertion of all mental
faculties is required of a telephone operator!' wrote one sympathetic doctor in
the early 1900s. 'Speaking, listening, connecting, in rapid unceasing succession
the operator carries out her task, completely exhausted by the time she leaves
the office .... Sleeplessness, or hearing telephone voices during her sleep these are the first signs of severe nervousness.'9
Part of the modernity of switchboard work was the intense discipline it

demanded of those who performed it. Telephone exchanges were thoroughly
Main 1995); idem, 'Unter dem Reichsadler: Postbeamtinnen und ihre Organisation 1908-1933',
1999. Zeitschrift fur Sozialgeschichte des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts, 3 (1990); Ursula Holtgrewe,
'Die Arbeit der Vermittlung. Frauen am Klappenschrank' in Hessische Bldtter fir Volks- und
Kulturforschung, NF 24 (1989); Helmut Gold and Annette Koch (eds), Das Frdulein vom Amt
(Miunchen 1993). See especially the article in this collection by Dietrich Milles, 'Nervenbelastung
oder nervose Veranlagung - Das medizinische Urteil iiber Telephonunfalle und Telefonistinnenkrankheiten', 94-108.
8 Fritz Giese, Girlkultur (Munich 1925); Siegfried Kracauer, The Salaried Masses: Duty and
Distraction in Weimar Germany (New York 1998) [originally published as Die Angestellten
(Frankfurt am Main 1930)]; idem, 'The Mass Ornament', trans. Thomas Lewin in The Mass
Ornament (Cambridge, MA 1995), 75-86 [originally published as 'Das Ornament der Masse',
Frankfurter Zeitung, 71, no. 420 (9-10 June 1927)]. On the New Woman of the Weimar era, see
Atina Grossmann, 'Girlkultur or Thoroughly Rationalized Female' in Judith Friedlander (ed.),
Women in Culture and Politics (Bloomington, IN 1986), 62-80; idem, 'The New Woman and the
Rationalization of Sexuality in Weimar Germany' in A. Smitow, C. Stansell and S. Thompson
(eds), Powers of Desire: The Politics of Sexuality (New York 1983), 153-71; R. Bridenthal, A.
Grossmann and M. Kaplan (eds), When Biology became Destiny: Women in Weimar and Nazi
Germany (New York 1984); Claudia Koonz, 'Weimar Emancipation' in Mothers in the
Fatherland: Women, the Family and Nazi Politics (New York 1987).
9 'Einschrankung des weiblichen Beamtenpersonals', Zeitschrift fir Eisenbahn-TelegraphenBeamten, 6 (1902), 43.
205
rationalized
rationalizedspaces
spaces
inin
which
which
thethe
rapid,
rapid,
precise
precise
motions
motions
of hundreds
of hundreds
of operaof operators
tors had
hadto
tobebeclosely
closely
co-ordinated
co-ordinated
to minimize
to minimize
disruption
disruption
or breakdown
or breakdown
of
of
service.10
service.10Pressure
Pressure
toto
improve
improve
efficiency
efficiency
was so
was
great
so great
that, between
that, between
1910 and
1910 and
1921,
1921, the
thenumber
number
ofof
connections
connections
operators
operators
werewere
expected
expected
to make
to increased
make increased
from
from 150
150toto500
500per
per
hour
hour
with
with
little
little
appreciable
appreciable
change
change
in equipment."
in equipment."
Working
Workingconstantly
constantly
at at
thethe
limit
limit
of their
of their
capacities,
capacities,
operators
operators
were also
were
kept
also kept
under
under constant
constantsurveillance;
surveillance;
their
their
speed
speed
in answering
in answering
calls was
callstimed
was timed
and
and
monitored,
monitored,asaswere
were
their
their
interactions
interactions
withwith
callers.
callers.
Impatient
Impatient
callers callers
(usually(usually
men)
men) were
wereequipped
equipped
with
with
buttons
buttons
that,
that,
when
when
pressed,
pressed,
sent asent
current
a current
throughthrough
the
the line,
line,drawing
drawing
the
the
operator's
operator's
attention
attention
withwith
a sharp,
a sharp,
unpleasant
unpleasant
crackling
crackling
noise
noise or
oraaslight
slightshock.
shock.
The
The
following
following
anecdote,
anecdote,
whichwhich
describes
describes
an incident
an incident
that
that occurred
occurredinin1902
1902
during
during
thethe
installation
installation
of a new
of a switchboard
new switchboard
at the at the
Siemens
Siemenscompany's
company's
headquarters
headquarters
in Berlin,
in Berlin,
illustrates
illustrates
what what
mightmight
happenhappen
under
under such
suchcircumstances:
circumstances:
Everything
Everythingwent
went
well
well
at at
first.
first.
ButBut
as the
as the
morning
morning
wore wore
on andon
the
and
hour
theofhour
maximum
of maximum
traffic traffic
density
densityapproached
approached
... ...
it it
became
became
evident
evident
thatthat
the operators,
the operators,
not being
not familiar
being familiar
with thewith
new the new
apparatus,
apparatus,were
wereunable
unable
to to
cope
cope
with
with
the the
traffic.
traffic.
The calls
The piled
calls up
piled
andup
theand
wrong
the connections
wrong connections
multiplied,
multiplied,while
while
the
the
faulty
faulty
cables
cables
added
added
cross-talk
cross-talk
to thetoconfusion.
the confusion.
By about
By11about
o'clock
11 o'clock
some
some 1000s
1000sofofinherently
inherently
nervous
nervous
Berlin
Berlin
businessmen
businessmen
had become
had become
little short
littleofshort
raving
ofmad,
raving mad,
and
and the
thetelephone
telephone
operators
operators
hadhad
lostlost
their
their
heads.
heads.
Suddenly
Suddenly
one ofone
the of
operators
the operators
tore
tore
her
her 'phone
'phoneset
setfrom
from
her
her
head
head
andand
fell fell
intointo
hysterics,
hysterics,
an example
an example
that was
that
infectious.
was infectious.
A few A few
minutes
minuteslater,
later,the
the
room
room
waswas
a mass
a mass
of screaming
of screaming
and howling
and howling
women,
women,
some ofsome
whom
of whom
jumped
jumpedup
upfrom
fromtheir
their
seats
seats
andand
rushed
rushed
out. out.
In the
Inmidst
the midst
of theof
tumult
the tumult
the Director
the Director
of
of
Telegraphs
Telegraphsstood
stoodwith
with
arms
arms
raised
raised
to the
to the
heavens
heavens
wailing:
wailing:
'My poor
'Mygirls!
poorMy
girls!
poorMy
girls!'12
poor girls!'12
Inspired
Inspiredby
bysuch
suchscenes,
scenes,
doctors
doctors
andand
psychologists
psychologists
soon began
soon began
to investigate
to investigate
seriously
seriouslythis
thisnexus
nexus
ofof
telephones
telephones
and and
female
female
nervous
nervous
systems.13
systems.13
Fatigue,
Fatigue,overwork,
overwork,
stress
stress
andand
noise
noise
werewere
recognized
recognized
as obvious
as obvious
occupa-occupa10
10 A
A key
keycontemporary
contemporary
text
text
on on
workplace
workplace
rationalization
rationalization
was Hugo
was Miinsterberg's
Hugo Miinsterberg's
Psychology
Psychology
and
and Industrial
IndustrialEfficiency
Efficiency
(Boston
(Boston
1913),
1913),
which
which
devotes
devotes
a chapter
a chapter
to switchboard
to switchboard
operators.
operators.
See
See
also
also Fritz
FritzGiese,
Giese,Berufspsychologische
Berufspsychologische
Beobachtungen
Beobachtungen
im Reichstelegraphendienst
im Reichstelegraphendienst
(Leipzig 1923);
(Leipzig 1923);
and
and for
foraacomprehensive
comprehensive
recent
recent
study,
study,
Siegfried
Siegfried
Jaeger
Jaeger
and Irmingard
and Irmingard
Staeuble,
Staeuble,
'Die Psychotechnik
'Die Psychotechnik
und
und ihre
ihregesellschaftlichen
gesellschaftlichen
Entwicklungsbedingungen'
Entwicklungsbedingungen'
in F. Stoll
in F.(ed.),
StollDie
(ed.),
Psychologie
Die Psychologie
des 20. des 20.
Jahrhunderts,
Jahrhunderts,Bd.
Bd.
XIII
XIII
(Zurich
(Zurich
1981),
1981),
53-94.
53-94.
11
11 Nienhaus,
Nienhaus,Vater
Vater
Staat,
Staat,
op.op.
cit.,cit.,
110-13.
110-13.
12
12 Georg
GeorgSiemens,
Siemens,
History
History
of of
thethe
House
House
of Siemens
of Siemens
(New (New
York 1977),
York 161.
1977),
For161.
another
For another
report report
of
of aa scene
sceneof
ofmass
mass
hysteria
hysteria
see see
'Die'Die
Anstrengungen
Anstrengungen
des Fernsprechdiensts',
des Fernsprechdiensts',
Der Fernsprecher,
Der Fernsprecher,
7
7
(1911),
(1911), 113.
113.See
Seealso
also
RPM
RPM
47.01,
47.01,
14577,
14577,
'Unfallfiirsorge
'Unfallfiirsorge
fur Beamtinnen
fur Beamtinnen
1913-1914',
1913-1914',
Bl. 65, Bl. 65,
271,
271, regarding
regardingthe
the
administration's
administration's
concerns
concerns
aboutabout
'psychic
'psychic
contagion'.
contagion'.
13
13 For
For aasampling
sampling
ofof
thethe
literature
literature
see E.
seeEwald,
E. Ewald,
'Traumatische
'Traumatische
Neurose
Neurose
nach einem
nachUnfall
einemimUnfall im
Telephonbetriebe',
Telephonbetriebe',
Monatschrift
Monatschrift
furfur
Unfallheilkunde,
Unfallheilkunde,
1 (1894),
1 (1894),
216-17;216-17;
Eduard Eduard
Hitzig, 'DiscusHitzig, 'Discus-
sion
sion zu
zuBohmig,
Bohmig,Hysterische
Hysterische
Unfallerkrankungen
Unfallerkrankungen
bei Telephonistinnen',
bei Telephonistinnen',
Centrallblatt
Centrallblatt
fur
fur
Nervenheilkunde,
Nervenheilkunde,
2626
(1903),
(1903),
59; 59;
Alfred
Alfred
Eulenburg,
Eulenburg,
'Uber 'Uber
NervenNervenund Geisteskrankheiten
und Geisteskrankheiten
nach
nach
elektrischen
elektrischenUnfallen',
Unfallen',
Berliner
Berliner
Klinische
Klinische
Wochenschrift,
Wochenschrift,
42 (1905),
42 (1905),
32; Hans
32;
Kurella,
Hans Kurella,
'Elek'Elektrische
trischeGesundheitsschadigungen
Gesundheitsschadigungen
am am
Telephon',
Telephon',
Zeitschrift
Zeitschrift
fur Elektrotherapie,
fur Elektrotherapie,
7 (1905), 7238(1905), 23861;
61; H.L.
H.L.Eisenstadt,
Eisenstadt,
Beitrdge
Beitrdge
zu den
zu den
Krankheiten
Krankheiten
der Postbeamten
der Postbeamten
(Berlin (Berlin
1909); Rudolf
1909); Foerster,
Rudolf Foerster,
'Unfalle
'Unfalleam
amTelephon
Telephon
und
und
ihre
ihre
Verhiitung',
Verhiitung',
Berliner
Berliner
Klinische
Klinische
Wochenschrift,
Wochenschrift,
48 (1911),
481688(1911), 16881699.
206
tional
tional hazards
hazardsof
ofswitchboard
switchboardwork.
work.
Yet
Yet
when
when
in in
thethe
early
early
1900s
1900s
medical
medical
menmen
began
began to
to encounter
encounterincidents
incidentsofofnervous
nervous
breakdown
breakdown
among
among
operators,
operators,
it was
it was
not
not over-exertion
over-exertionbut
butshock
shockthat
thatoccupied
occupied
their
their
attention.
attention.
Their
Their
tendency
tendency
was was
to connect
connect these
thesedisorders
disorderstotoananaccident
accident
oror
sudden,
sudden,
momentary
momentary
occurrence
occurrence
resulting
resulting in
in the
thetransmission
transmissionofofelectricity
electricity
to to
thethe
body
body
andand
a traumatic
a traumatic
jolt jolt
to to
the
the nervous
nervous system.
system.There
Thereisissome
somereason
reason
to to
believe
believe
that,
that,
in the
in the
early
early
years
years
of of
telephonics,
telephonics, such
suchoccurrences
occurrenceswere
were
not
not
uncommon,
uncommon,
duedue
to the
to the
factfact
thatthat
lineslines
were
were poorly
poorly insulated
insulatedand
andcould
couldbecome
become
conductors
conductors
forfor
atmospheric
atmospheric
electrielectricity.
city. Better
Better insulation
insulationand
andimproved
improved
safety
safety
measures
measures
ledled
to atodecrease
a decrease
in such
in such
incidents of actual 'shock'.14
Yet cases of nervous breakdown among the personnel showed no signs of

abating; if anything, they continued to increase in frequency. Moreover, they
remained closely tied to the mechanics of shock. It can be surmised that this
was at least partly due to the fact that the discourse about telephone accidents
recapitulated so much of the medical discourse about railway accident-related
nervous trauma, in which concussion was believed to produce an authentic, if
invisible, injury. The electric current with which their work brought operators
into contact seemed to actualize the shock model elaborated in connection
with railway accidents.15 But there were other factors at work here as well. It
was a basic feature of long-standing medical belief that women were more
susceptible than men to nervous and hysterical disorders, as well as to electrical, magnetic or other influences (whether real or imagined). Added to this
belief were grave doubts concerning the wisdom of female employment and
women's ability to withstand the demands of the industrial workplace.
Arguably the single most important factor in the construction of this disease-
picture was the accident insurance law itself. This law compensated workrelated neuroses within strictly defined limits. Entitlement to benefits was
made contingent upon proof of direct causal connection to an accident, while
long-term occupational hazards, such as chronic over-exertion, were expressly
exempted from coverage. This narrow definition of the compensatable event,
it has been argued, conformed to the positivist orientation of contemporary
clinical medicine in favour of mono-causal interpretations and discrete, localizable injuries. In keeping with this orientation, social insurance practice
developed an epistemology of traumatic neurosis that 'privileged the visible,
the observable, and the scientifically verifiable'.16 Thus exhaustion, fatigue and
14 See Milles, op. cit., 98.
15 The first reports about electrocution in the USA were also the subject of anxious reportage in
operators' journals.
16 Greg Eghigian, Making Security Social: Disability, Insurance, and the Birth of the Social
Entitlement State in Germany (Ann Arbor, MI 2000), 83. See also Anson Rabinbach, 'Social
Knowledge, Social Risk, and the Politics of Accidents in Germany and France' in Dieter
Rueschmeyer and Theda Skocpol (eds), States, Social Knowledge, and the Origins of Modern
Social Policies (Princeton, NJ 1996), 48-89. For comparative perspectives on the historical sociology of accidents, see Karl Figlio, 'What is an accident?' in Paul Weindling (ed.), The Social
History of Occupational Health (London 1985), 180-206; Roger Cooter and Bill Luckin (eds),
Accidents in History (Amsterdam 1997).
207
anxiety,
anxiety, to
tothe
theextent
extentthat
that
they
they
played
played
a role
a role
in the
in the
medical
medical
discourse
discourse
aboutabout
operators,
operators,were
weremost
mostoften
often
linked
linked
to to
pre-existing
pre-existing
constitutional
constitutional
or hereditary
or hereditary
factors
factors -- in
inother
otherwords,
words,cited
cited
as as
evidence
evidence
notnot
of overwork
of overwork
but of
butinborn
of inborn
weakness
weakness or
ordegeneration.
degeneration.
This
This may
may help
helptotoexplain
explainthe
the
form
form
taken
taken
by by
thethe
operator's
operator's
standard
standard
presentpresenting
ing complaint:
complaint:'I'Ihave
havereceived
received
anan
electric
electric
shock.'
shock.'
Stressing
Stressing
the singularity
the singularity
of a of a
sudden,
sudden, accidental
accidentaloccurrence,
occurrence,
this
this
complaint
complaint
- reiterated
- reiterated
timetime
and again
and again
in
in
doctors'
doctors' consulting
consultingrooms
rooms
- became
- became
part
part
of of
a clinical
a clinical
picture
picture
of nervous
of nervous
breakdown
breakdowninextricably
inextricablylinked
linked
with
with
a moment
a moment
of technological
of technological
breakdown:
breakdown:
the
the so-called
so-called'telephone
'telephoneaccident'.
accident'.
This
This picture
picturegained
gainedlegal
legalstatus
status
in in
1901
1901
when
when
amendments
amendments
to existing
to existing
acci- accident
dent insurance
insurancelaw
lawentitled
entitled
civil
civil
servants,
servants,
such
such
as operators,
as operators,
to coverage
to coverage
of of
medical
medical costs,
costs,lengthy
lengthyrest
rest
cures,
cures,
andand
in in
thethe
casecase
of prolonged
of prolonged
incapacity,
incapacity,
a
a
pension
pension covering
coveringup
uptototwo-thirds
two-thirds
of of
their
their
original
original
salary.
salary.
These
These
benefits
benefits
reflected
reflected the
thesocial
socialvision
vision
that
that
laylay
behind
behind
thethe
German
German
accident
accident
insurance
insurance
system,
system, which
whichsought
soughttotocollectivize
collectivize
thethe
risks
risks
of industrial
of industrial
modernity.
modernity.
Designed
Designed
to ease
ease workplace
workplaceconflict,
conflict,
itsits
implementation
implementation
led led
in practice,
in practice,
however,
however,
to a to a
highly
highly litigious
litigiousenvironment
environment
and
and
to to
thethe
politicization
politicization
of doctor-patient
of doctor-patient
inter-interactions.17
actions.17 Although
Althoughthe
thetotal
total
number
number
of of
cases
cases
involving
involving
operators
operators
is difficult
is difficult
to
to
estimate,
estimate, ititprobably
probablydid
didnot
not
exceed
exceed
more
more
than
than
several
several
thousand
thousand
all told
all over
told over
a
a
period
period of
of almost
almostthree
threedecades.18
decades.18
These
These
rather
rather
modest
modest
numbers
numbers
notwithstandnotwithstanding,
ing, the
the encounter
encounterbetween
between
German
German
social
social
policy
policy
andand
the the
problem
problem
of accident
of accident
neurosis
neurosis seems
seemstotohave
haveopened
opened
a veritable
a veritable
Pandora's
Pandora's
box box
of issues.
of issues.
Traumatic
Traumaticneurosis
neurosisemerged
emerged
within
within
a highly-charged
a highly-charged
social
social
spacespace
consticonstituted
tuted by
by the
theconvergence
convergence
ofof
social
social
insurance,
insurance,
clinical
clinical
psychiatry
psychiatry
and aand
newa new
politics
politics of
ofthe
thebody
bodyasasthe
the
site
site
ofof
labour
labour
power.
power.
TheThe
stakes
stakes
involved
involved
in itsin its
diagnosis
diagnosis --granting
grantingthe
theemployee
employee
a pension
a pension
or mandating
or mandating
her her
return
return
to work
to work
- were,
were, within
withinthe
thecontext
context
ofof
the
the
contentious
contentious
labour
labour
relations
relations
of the
of early
the early
twentieth
twentiethcentury,
century,significant.
significant.
AsAs
such
such
they
they
placed
placed
a high
a high
premium
premium
on claims
on claims
for
for epistemological
epistemologicalcertainty.
certainty.
But
But
this
this
waswas
precisely
precisely
what
what
remained
remained
elusive
elusive
to
to
physicians
physiciansin
intheir
theirinteractions
interactions
with
with
operators,
operators,
given
given
the the
often
often
bewildering
bewildering
profusion
profusion of
ofsymptoms
symptoms- usually
- usually
located
located
on on
thethe
leftleft
sideside
of the
of face
the face
and body,
and body,
where
where the
thereceiver
receiverwas
washeld
held
- combined
- combined
with,
with,
as one
as one
doctor
doctor
put it,
put'complete
it, 'complete
absence
absence of
ofexternally
externallyvisible
visible
injury'.19
injury'.19
17
17 Eghigian
Eghigianstresses
stressesthis
thisaspect
aspect
ofof
thethe
problem.
problem.
See See
Eghigian,
Eghigian,
Making
Making
Security
Security
Social,Social,
op. cit.,
op. cit.,
77ff.
77ff. For
For more
moreon
onGerman
German
medicine
medicine
andand
social
social
insurance
insurance
see Alfons
see Alfons
Labisch,
Labisch,
'Doctors,
'Doctors,
Workers
Workers
and
and the
the Scientific
ScientificCosmology
Cosmology
ofof
thethe
Industrial
Industrial
World:
World:
The The
Social
Social
Construction
Construction
of "Health"
of "Health"
and and
the
the "Homo-Hygienicus"
"Homo-Hygienicus"', ',Journal
Journal
of of
Contemporary
Contemporary
History,
History,
20, 420,
(October
4 (October
1995),1995),
599-616;
599-616;
Ute Ute
Frevert,
Frevert, 'Professional
'ProfessionalMedicine
Medicine
and
and
thethe
Working
Working
Classes
Classes
in Imperial
in Imperial
Germany',
Germany',
Journal
Journal
of
of
Contemporary
ContemporaryHistory,
History,20,
20,
4 (October
4 (October
1985),
1985),
637-58;
637-58;
Gerd
Gerd
Gockenjahn,
Gockenjahn,
Kurieren
Kurieren
und und
Staatmachen:
Staatmachen:Gesundheit
Gesundheitund
und
Medizin
Medizin
in in
derder
biirgerlichen
biirgerlichen
WeltWelt
(Frankfurt/Main
(Frankfurt/Main
1985),1985),
341-406.
341-406.
18
18 This
This estimate
estimateisisbased
basedonon
my
my
research
research
in the
in the
archives
archives
of the
of Reichspostministerium.
the Reichspostministerium.
For For
Germany
Germany as
asaawhole,
whole,the
thebest
best
estimates
estimates
suggest
suggest
thatthat
the the
number
number
of workers
of workers
receiving
receiving
a pension
a pension
for
for
traumatic
traumatic neurosis
neurosiswas
wasless
less
than
than
2 per
2 per
cent
cent
of all
of pensioned
all pensioned
workers.
workers.
See Schmiedebach,
See Schmiedebach,
op. cit.,
op. cit.,
42.
42.
19 RPM 47.01, 14575/1, Bl. 288.
208
At the heart of the rulings made by insurance boards and medical experts
lay the question of how to discriminate between legitimate and illegitimate
claims. Psychiatrists acting as expert witnesses had to exercise caution in
sorting through the shifting repertoire of symptoms presented by patients. A
growing body of medical literature emerged offering practitioners advice on

how to find their way through this maze of symptoms, conduct examinations
and identify malingerers. Much hope was pinned to a variety of diagnostic
techniques for eliciting true and natural signs from patients' bodies, so-called
'objective symptoms' believed to guarantee reliable diagnosis. But almost

simultaneously with the codification of traumatic neurosis as a compensatable
illness came evidence that patients were becoming expert at simulating it. This
discovery exposed divisions among doctors, which often ran along class lines,
some being accused of coaching patients in the art of simulating nervous
disorder, of running 'clinics for malingering', others of compromising their
professional objectivity by showing unfair bias in favour of employers. Issues
of class were overlaid with issues of gender, insofar as the problem of diagnosis was often framed in terms of a complex negotiation between the inherently
'subjective', exaggerated, and unreliable aspects of (female) patients' complaints and the objective gaze of the male physician.
As the following example indicates, difficult cases could drag on for years
before being resolved. In 1905, the eminent psychiatrist Carl Wernicke was
asked to submit an opinion in the case of the operator Klara W. The patient
had suffered an accident twelve years previously, in 1893, and subsequently
been examined by eight different doctors, several of whom had concluded that
she was an outright malingerer. Based on his own examination, Wernicke

decided that
The injured areas on the scalp, the swelling of the left side of the tongue, the throat and the
left arm . . . finally, the disturbed balance and the irregularity of the pulse make it likely that
the electrical charge affected the nervous system itself .... In other words, the symptoms
observed on [the patient] make it likely that in addition to severe hysteria she suffers from the
physical consequences of an electrical jolt.'?
Wernicke's opinion, which resulted in full compensation, illustrated what

came for a time to be the prevailing wisdom concerning so-called telephone
accidents: that an electric shock was transmitted from the receiver to the
operator's body via her ear.
To elucidate all of the discursive elements that went into the making of this
disease-picture, we must look a little deeper into the complex relationship
between nerves, wires and electricity that lay at the heart of the operators'
complaints. I would suggest here that operators, in classic hysterical form,
were 'materializing' or 'literalizing' a quite specific metaphoric construction of
20 Carl Wernicke, 'Obergutachten iiber der Verletzung einer Telephonistin durch Starkstrom',
Monatschrift fur Psychiatrie, 17 (1905), Erganzungsheft, 9-10.
209
the body.21 I have in mind an image that served as one of the master-tropes of
nineteenth-century psychology: namely the analogy of the nervous system to

a telegraph or telephone system. Already by the turn of the century, when
operators first began attracting medical attention, this analogy had a lengthy
history behind it, extending back to mid-century physiologists such as

Helmholtz. Embedded within a set of theories, practices and technical
resources, it became emblematic of a new style of materialist thought that
explained organic functions in terms of electrical and chemical processes, thus
eliminating vitalist forces.22 This model also helped to enshrine a vision of the
body as a thermodynamic system or dynamo, subject to energy flows and

breakdowns, whose labour power it became a key project of modern society to
unlock.23 It was thus part of a distinctively modern discursive system that
helped to establish the very possibility of a scientific psychology. It is surely no
coincidence that Carl Wernicke, the psychiatrist who ultimately awarded
Klara W. her benefits, subscribed to this theory. In his widely-read psychiatric
textbook, for instance, Wernicke described sensory-motor units travelling
along so-called 'association fibres' within the brain and nervous system like
electrical pulses along a telegraph line.24
This analogy also found its way into and became encoded within more
popular versions of the discourse of scientific psychology. As the following
example taken from an article in one operators' journal suggests, the switchboard functioned as a model for a popular theory of the nervous system's role
in mediating the operations of mind and body:
As in a telephone station all lines are unified and a connection between two speakers must go
via the station, so everything in the human organism . .. goes through the brain. All movements are dependent on the normal function of the brain and naturally of course on the
normal function of telegraph wires and nerves.25
21 Eric Santner uses this notion of 'literalization' in his study of Daniel Paul Schreber's memoirs,
especially in connection with Schreber's fascination with mechanistic models of the brain. See his
My Own Private Germany: Daniel Paul Schreber's Secret History of Modernity (Princeton, NJ
1996), 75ff. See also Ruth Leys, Trauma: A Geneaology (Chicago 2000); Jean Starobinski,
Literatur und Psychoanalyse: Die Geschichte der imagindren Strome (Frankfurt/Main n.d.); and,
for more on electrical models and on the relation between physiology and psychology in Freud,
Starobinski, 'A Short History of Body Consciousness' in Humanities in Review, 1 (1982), 22-39.
22 For instance, one of the antecedents for Helmholtz's experiment on the velocity of the nerve
impulse was a telegraphic device invented by his friend Siemens. See Timothy Lenoir, 'Models and
Instruments in the Development of Electrophysiology, 1845-1912', Historical Studies in the

Physical and Biological Sciences, 16 (1986), 1-54.
23 Anson Rabinbach, The Human Motor: Energy, Fatigue, and the Origins of Modernity (New
York 1990).
24 See Adolf Meyer, 'Review of Recent Problems of Psychiatry' in The Collected Papers of
Adolf Meyer, vol. 3 (Baltimore 1950), 335. For further instances of this analogy, see Dolf
Sternberger, Panorama of the Nineteenth Century (New York 1977), 26-7. Late nineteenthcentury scientific popularizers like Max Nordau and Ernst Haeckel frequently invoked variations
on this motif. See, for instance, Haeckel's Riddle of the Universe at the Close of the Nineteenth
Century (New York 1900), 162.
25 'Wie gewinnt man Energie, geistige Frische und Lebensfreude', Der Fernsprecher, 10 (1912),
210
A
A sampling
sampling
of of
the the
articles
articles
in thisinand
this
other
and
journals
othersuggests
journals
that
suggests
the notion
that
of the notion o
aa connection
connection
between
between
nerves
nerves
and electrical
and electrical
wires waswires
deeply was
implanted
deeply
within
implanted with
the
theoperators'
operators'
collective
collective
consciousness.
consciousness.
These women,
Thesewho
women,
were acutely
who were acute
aware
awareofof
their
their
modernity,
modernity,
and ofand
the of
place
the
of place
'nerves'of
within
'nerves'
the new
within
economy
the new economy
of
of 'brain-work',
'brain-work',
had had
internalized
internalized
this imagery
this imagery
as part of as
their
part
ownofself-image
their own self-im
as
as members
members
of of
Germany's
Germany's
industrial
industrial
vanguard.
vanguard.
At some level
At they
somebelieved
level they believ
that
thatthey
they
were
were
plugged
plugged
directly
directly
into theinto
apparatus
the apparatus
they operated
they
andoperated
that their and that thei
nervous
nervous
systems
systems
shared
shared
the same
the structure
same structure
and mode and
of functioning
mode of functioning
as this
as th
machinery.
machinery.
In In
doing
doing
so, they
so, invoked
they invoked
what might
what
be might
called a kind
be called
of popular
a kind of popu
Helmholtzianism,
Helmholtzianism,
citing
citing
the great
the physiologist
great physiologist
as the authority
as thefor
authority
their belief
for their belief
in
in the
theessential
essential
identity
identity
of electrical
of electrical
and nervous
and systems.
nervousBut,
systems.
as an analogy
But, as an analo
for
forthe
thenervous
nervous
system,
system,
the telegraph
the telegraph
- with all- its
with
connotations
all its connotations
of progress
of progr
-- was
washere
here
implicated
implicated
in a darker
in a darker
vision of
vision
modernity.
of modernity.
In appropriating
In appropriati
this
thislanguage,
language,
operators
operators
wedded
wedded
it to their
it to
own
their
senseown
of being
sense
uniquely
of being
at risk,
uniquely at risk
virtually
virtually
programmed
programmed
for nervous
for nervous
breakdown.
breakdown.
In
In telephone
telephone
exchanges
exchanges
it wasita was
fact, aasfact,
one anonymous
as one anonymous
author writing
author
in a writing in
trade
tradepublication
publication
for for
railway
railway
telegraph
telegraph
operatorsoperators
stated, thatstated,
the air was
that the air wa
'virtually
'virtually
impregnated
impregnated
with with
stray electrical
stray electrical
current'. The
current'.
consequences,
The consequences,
the
th
writer
writerwent
went
on on
- citing
- citing
the work
the of
work
Helmholtz's
of Helmholtz's
illustrious colleague
illustrious
Emilcolleague
Du
Emil
Bois-Reymond
Bois-Reymond
- were
- were
predictable
predictable
to anyone
to familiar
anyonewith
familiar
basic electrowith basic electr
physiology:
It has been scientifically proven - Du Bois-Reymond performed path-breaking investigations in this field - that electric currents circulate in our nerves .... One can easily imagine
that by means of a strong overcharge of the nerves with electricity, entering the body from
outside, functional disturbances or even chronic over-stimulation and overburdening may

result.
The author went on to draw an analogy between 'overloaded nerves' and

electric wires, and then, anticipating objections, posed the following rhetorical
question:
It will be asked: 'What do nerves have to do with conducting lines?' The nerves are clearly
no conducting lines, nevertheless there is a close connection between the two. Our tools,
apparatus and transportation technology are nothing other than unconscious representations
and imitations of our bodily organs and bodily equipment. ... The telegraph wire is a copy
of the nerve fibre and the nervous system. What holds true for one must therefore hold true
for another.26
Given this kinship, it was only logical, concluded the author, that an excessively strong current could bring about failure in the one just as in the other.
Technological and nervous breakdown were, indeed, intimately linked.

162. For a further example, see 'Gesundheitsschadigungen am Telephon', Der Fernsprecher, 2
(1911), 22; and, for a variant inspired by Thomas Edison's view of the body as a 'dynamomachine', 'Edison uiber Gesundheitspflege', Der Fernsprecher, 1 (1911), 18.
26 'Die Nervositat der Beamten', Zeitschrift fur Eisenbahn-Telegraphen-Beamte, 23 (1905),

179-81.
211
But
Butwhile
while
such
such
views
views
may may
have permeated
have permeated
the operators'
the consciousness,
operators' consciousnes
they
theywere
were
becoming
becoming
discredited
discredited
among leading
amongmedical
leading
practitioners
medical practitioners
and psyand p
chologists,
chologists,
who
who
werewere
turning
turning
to a new,
to less
a new,
materialist
less materialist
paradigm, one
paradigm,
that
one t
rejected
rejected
the
the
nineteenth-century
nineteenth-century
body-machine
body-machine
for an ostensibly
for anmore
ostensibly
humanis-more humani
tic
ticvision
vision
of of
thethe
self self
that recuperated
that recuperated
terms such
terms
as 'will'
such
and as
'soul'.
'will'
By and
the turn
'soul'. By the tu
of
of the
thecentury,
century,
the the
protest
protest
that the
that
science
theof
science
the soulof
had
the
been
soul
degraded
had been
into degraded int
aa purely
purely
mechanical
mechanical
formform
of expertise
of expertise
was becoming
was becoming
fairly widespread.27
fairly widespread.
Drawing
Drawing
onon
thethe
thought
thought
of Bergson
of Bergson
and Nietzsche,
and Nietzsche,
the fin-de-siecle
the fin-de-siecle
intellectual
intellectua
reaction
reaction
against
against
mechanism
mechanism
soughtsought
to restore
to 'life'
restore
and the
'life'
'will'
and
to their
the 'will' to thei
proper
properplace
place
within
within
the human
the human
sciences.28
sciences.28
This
Thisshift
shift
received
received
addedadded
impetus
impetus
from the
from
response
theof
response
German doctors
of German
to
doctors
the
theproblem
problem
of war
of war
neurosis.
neurosis.
Well before
Well the
before
first the
worldfirst
war, practitioners
world war, had
practitioners h
begun
beguna a
concerted
concerted
campaign
campaign
againstagainst
the clinical
thepicture
clinical
surrounding
picture surrounding
traumatic
traum
neurosis.
neurosis.
Pointing
Pointing
to inconsistencies
to inconsistencies
in this picture
in this
and
picture
to evidence
and of
tofraud,
evidence of fra
they
theyargued
argued
that
that
it was
it awas
dubious
a dubious
medical medical
construct construct
at best, an artifact
at best,
at an artifact
worst,
worst,rooted
rooted
in ain
naive
a naive
and excessive
and excessive
faith in mechanist
faith in mechanist
explanations. explanations.
They
Th
were
werebacked
backed
up up
by critics
by critics
of theof
welfare
the welfare
system, who
system,
regarded
who
accident
regarded
insur-accident insur
ance
anceasaslittle
little
more
more
thanthan
a system
a system
of incentives
of incentives
for illness for
and shirking
illness and
- oneshirking - o
whose
whoseadministration,
administration,
moreover,
moreover,
had beenhad
taken
been
overtaken
and skilfully
over and
manipuskilfully manip
lated
latedby
by
the
the
Social
Social
Democrats.29
Democrats.29
Though Though
the fragile
the
social
fragile
compromise
social institucompromise inst
tionalized
tionalized
in in
Germany's
Germany's
accident
accident
insurance
insurance
system remained
systeminremained
place up until
in place up un
the
thewar,
war,
debates
debates
about
about
costs,costs,
combined
combined
with fears
with
of fraud
fears
onof
thefraud
part ofon the part
claimants,
claimants,
culminated
culminated
in theinwartime
the wartime
epidemic epidemic
of shellshock.
of shellshock.
Industrialized
Industrialized
war,
war,
as Germany's
as Germany's
medical medical
establishment
establishment
quickly discovered,
quickly discovere
produced
produced
cases
cases
of nervous
of nervous
breakdown
breakdown
on an industrial
on an industrial
scale. Insurance
scale.
claims
Insurance cla
mounted
mounted
accordingly.
accordingly.
In response
In response
to what to
they
what
perceived
they asperceived
a crisis of as
morale
a crisis of mo
and
andmalingering
malingering
within
within
the ranks,
the ranks,
psychiatrists
psychiatrists
adopted a unified
adopted
stand
a unified
against stand agains
the
theolder
older
picture
picture
of traumatic
of traumatic
neurosisneurosis
as a somatic
as adisorder
somatic
anddisorder
enthronedand
a enthrone
new
newpsychogenic
psychogenic
theory
theory
of neurosis
of neurosis
in its place.
in its
The place.
effect The
was to
effect
shift the
was to shift
27
27 One
OneAmerican
American
psychologist
psychologist
who studied
who in
studied
Germany
in in
Germany
the 1890s in
went
the
so 1890s
far as to
went
note so
that
far as to note
the
theprofusion
profusion
of telegraphic
of telegraphic
equipment
equipment
used in experimental
used in experimental
psychology made
psychology
it sometimes
made
diffiit sometimes di
cult
culttototell
tell
which
which
fieldfield
he was
heworking
was working
in: psychology
in: psychology
or telegraphy.
orCited
telegraphy.
in M. Sokal,
Cited
A. Davis
in M. Sokal, A. Dav
and
andU.U.Merzbach,
Merzbach,
'Laboratory
'Laboratory
Instruments
Instruments
in the History
in the
of History
Psychology',
of Journal
Psychology',
of the History
Journal of the Histo
of
of the
theBehavioral
Behavioral
Sciences,
Sciences,
12 (1976),
12 (1976),
59.
59.
28
28 Several
Several
scholars
scholars
have have
noted noted
that bythat
1900 by
the 1900
limitations
the limitations
of the telegraph
of the
analogy
telegraph
for the neranalogy for the n
vous
voussystem
system
could
could
no longer
no longer
be ignored
be ignored
by scientists,
by scientists,
given its inability
giventoits
account
inability
for phenomena
to account for phenom
such
suchasasregeneration.
regeneration.
See Donna
See Donna
Haraway,
Haraway,
Crystals, Crystals,
Fields and Fabrics:
Fields Metaphors
and Fabrics:
of Organicism
Metaphors of Organic
in
in 20th
20thCentury
Century
Developmental
Developmental
BiologyBiology
(New Haven,
(New
CT Haven,
1976), 67,CT
97.1976),
See also67,
Georges
97. See also Geor
Canguilhem,
Canguilhem,
'Machine
'Machine
and Organism'
and Organism'
in J. Crary
in J.
andCrary
S. Kwinter
and (eds),
S. Kwinter
Incorporations
(eds), (New
Incorporations (N
York
York1992),
1992),
44-69.
44-69.
On the
Onholistic
the holistic
turn in turn
German
inpsychology
German psychology
see Anne Harrington,
see Anne Harringt
Reenchanted
Reenchanted
Science:
Science:
Holism
Holism
in German
in German
Culture from
Culture
Wilhelm
from
II toWilhelm
Hitler (Princeton,
II to Hitler
NJ 1997);
(Princeton, NJ 1997
Mitchell
Mitchell
Ash,
Ash,
Wholism
Wholism
and the
and
Quest
thefor
Quest
Objectivity:
for Objectivity:
Gestalt Psychology
Gestalt
in Psychology
German Culture
in German Cult
1890-1967
1890-1967
(Cambridge,
(Cambridge,
MA 1995).
MA 1995).
29
29 For
Formajor
major
statements,
statements,
see Walther
see Walther
Ewald, Die
Ewald,
traumatische
Die traumatische
Neurosen und Neurosen
die Unfallgesetzund die Unfallges
gebung
gebung(Berlin
(Berlin
1908);
1908);
and, especially
and, especially
Ludwig Bernhard,
Ludwig Bernhard,
Die Unerwiinschte
Die Unerwiinschte
Folgen der deutschen
Folgen der deutsc
Sozialpolitik
Sozialpolitik
(Berlin
(Berlin
1912).1912).
See also
See
Eghigian,
also Eghigian,
'Die Burokratie',
'Die Burokratie',
op. cit.; Schmiedebach,
op. cit.; op.
Schmiedebach,
cit.,
op. ci
47-56.
212
emphasis from the impact of the battlefield experience to the soldier's inner
world, to his 'will', 'attitude' or 'disposition'.30 While this psychologization of
neurosis represented, in certain respects, a conceptual advance, in practice it
was often abused, since it made it easier to contest compensation claims. One
result of this shift was the increasing stigmatization of soldiers as male hysterics, a process that carried over into the postwar era, when the leaders of
the social uprising of 1918 were publicly labelled as hysterics by prominent
psychiatrists.
A major voice in postwar debates about accident neurosis was that of Ewald
Stier (1874-1954).31 Stier, a rather neglected figure in the history of German
psychiatry, was a military psychiatrist with a post at Berlin's Charite Psychiatric Clinic whose expertise on matters of insurance compensation brought
him to prominence within the War Ministry's medical staff. The aftermath of
the war left him, like many other physicians, disaffected from the new repub-
lic; his writings leave no doubt of his conviction that there was a direct link
between the problem of rampant nervous illness and the weaknesses of the
Social Democratic state. Later in his career, in an article in which he reflected
on the methods employed by his profession in treating psychiatric casualties
during the world war, Stier singled out as crucial the decision to replace use of
the term Nervenshock ('nervous shock') in the army's nerve-stations with the
term Nervenschreck ('nervous fright').32 Alarmed by the breakdown of morale
and discipline in the ranks, army medical staff had seized on this strategy as a
means to avoid further implanting in soldiers' minds the impression that the
war itself was the cause of their nervous maladies, rather than their own fear.
This strategy became the basis for resolving the tangle of issues surrounding
accident neurosis after the war.
30 For good discussions, see Paul Lerner, 'Psychiatry and Casualties of War in Germany
1914-18', Journal of Contemporary History, 35, 1 (January 2000), 13-28; Doris Kaufmann,
'Science as Cultural Practice: Psychiatry in the First World War and Weimar Germany', Journal of
Contemporary History, 34, 1 (January 1999), 125-44. See also P. Lerner, '"Ein Sieg deutschen
Willens": Wille und Gemeinschaft in der deutschen Kriegspsychiatrie' in W. Eckart and C.
Gradmann (eds), Die Medizin und der Erste Weltkrieg (Freiburg 1996), 85-107; K.H. Roth, 'Die
Modernisierung der Folter in den beiden Weltkriegen. Die Konflikt der Psychotherapeuten und
Schulpsychiater um die deutschen "Kriegsneurotiker" 1915-1945', 1999. Zeitschrift fur

Sozialgeschichte des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts, 2 (July 1987), 8-75; Robert Whalen, Bitter
Wounds: German Victims of the Great War 1914-1939 (Ithaca, NY 1984).
31 See Ewald Stier, 'Rentenversorgung bei nervosen und psychisch erkrankten Feldzugsteilnehmern' in Karl Bonhoeffer (ed.), Handbuch der arztliche Erfahrungen im Weltkrieg, 19141918, v. 4, Geistes- und Nervenkrankheiten (Leipzig 1922), 168-93.
32 Ewald Stier, 'Psychiatrie und Heer', Der Deutsche Militdrarzt (1936), 17. In the 1930s Stier,
by this time regarded as the 'Nestor' of German military psychiatry, became one of the first
members of his profession to advocate sequestering the mentally ill in concentration camps. See
also Stier, 'Wie kann der Entstehung von Kriegsneurosen bei der Feldarmee vorgebeugt werden?',
Deutsche Militdrdrztliche Zeitschrift, 47 (1918), 65.
213
In
In the
the early
early1920s
1920sStier
Stier
was
was
commissioned
commissioned
by the
by the
postal
postal
ministry
ministry
that overthat oversaw
saw Germany's
Germany'stelephone
telephone
system
system
to to
study
study
the the
health
health
problems
problems
of itsof
personnel.
its personnel.
This
This led
led to
toa aten-year-long
ten-year-long
engagement
engagement
with
with
the the
problem
problem
of nervouslyof nervouslyafflicted
afflictedoperators.33
operators.33Stier's
Stier's
investigations
investigations
led led
himhim
to a to
number
a number
of conclusions,
of conclusions,
the
the cumulative
cumulativeeffect
effect
ofof
which
which
waswas
to call
to call
intointo
question
question
the causal
the causal
relation
relation
between
between accident
accidentand
andillness.
illness.
ForFor
ourour
purposes
purposes
the the
mostmost
important
important
here here
concerns
concernswhat
whatStier
Stieridentified
identified
as as
thethe
corecore
of the
of the
problem:
problem:
the alleged
the alleged
role of
role of
electricity
electricityin
inthe
thegenesis
genesis
ofof
thethe
operators'
operators'
maladies.
maladies.
Citing
Citing
a large
a large
body body
of
of
scientific
scientificresearch
researchononbrain
brain
injury,
injury,
as well
as well
as on
as medical
on medical
usageusage
of electricity
of electricity
in
in
treating
treating psychiatric
psychiatriccasualties
casualties
during
during
thethe
war,war,
StierStier
contended
contended
that it
that
wasit was
impossible
impossiblefor
forelectrical
electrical
current
current
to to
have
have
the the
effects
effects
attributed
attributed
to it to
by it
theby the
personnel.
personnel.The
Thephysical
physical
jolt
jolt
(Stromwirkung)
(Stromwirkung)
cited
cited
by neurotic
by neurotic
operators
operators
- if - if
indeed
indeed ititoccurred
occurredatatallall
- could
- could
only
only
be understood
be understood
as triggering
as triggering
an already
an already
existing
existing latent
latentpathology.
pathology.
Shock
Shock
(Shockwirkung)
(Shockwirkung)
was was
in fact
in fact
merely
merely
a kinda of
kind of
fright
fright (Schreckwirkung),
(Schreckwirkung),
a form
a form
of of
'psychic
'psychic
infection'
infection'
rooted
rooted
in morbid
in morbid
fear fear
and
and the
the desire
desirefor
fora apension.34
pension.34
NotNot
work
work
conditions
conditions
but attitude
but attitude
and psychoand psychophysical
physical predisposition
predisposition
held
held
thethe
keykey
to the
to the
operators'
operators'
reactions
reactions
and maladies.
and maladies.
In
In addition
additionto
toadvocating
advocating
stricter
stricter
selection
selection
criteria
criteria
for employees,
for employees,
Stier Stier
stressed
stressed the
theneed
needfor
foreducating
educating
personnel
personnel
about
about
industrial
industrial
safety
safety
in general
in general
and and
the
the harmlessness
harmlessnessofofelectrical
electrical
current
current
in particular.
in particular.
HereHere
we return
we return
to theto the
imaginative
imaginativekernel
kernelofof
the
the
problem:
problem:
thethe
one-to-one
one-to-one
correspondence,
correspondence,
first first
estab- estab-
lished
lished by
bymid-nineteenth-century
mid-nineteenth-century
physiologists,
physiologists,
between
between
nervous
nervous
actionaction
and and
electrical
electricalcurrent.
current.This
This
correspondence,
correspondence,
as Ias
have
I have
suggested,
suggested,
was central
was central
to theto the
claims
claims of
ofthe
theoperators,
operators,
who
who
steadfastly
steadfastly
maintained
maintained
that that
exposure
exposure
to current
to current
posed
posed aa direct
directthreat
threattoto
their
their
nervous
nervous
equilibrium.
equilibrium.
Their
Their
representatives
representatives
con- continually
tinually gathered
gatheredevidence
evidence
ofof
electricity's
electricity's
effects
effects
on the
on body
the body
to support
to support
the the
claim
claim of
of aaclose
closeconnection
connection
between
between
nervous
nervous
and and
technological
technological
breakdown.35
breakdown.35
Stier
Stier depicted
depictedthese
thesenotions
notions
as as
popular
popular
conceits
conceits
without
without
basisbasis
in scientific
in scientific
fact.
fact. In
In the
thelate
late1920s
1920s
hehe
summarized
summarized
his his
ownown
viewview
of what
of what
was at
was
stake
at stake
in thein the
case
case of
of the
theoperator
operatorasas
follows:
follows:
With
With good
goodreason
reasonI used
I used
the
the
so-called
so-called
telephone
telephone
accident
accident
as a starting-point
as a starting-point
from which
from which
to
to
consider
consider the
thequestion
questionofof
accident
accident
neurosis,
neurosis,
inasmuch
inasmuch
as the
as very
the very
weak weak
currents
currents
used inused
tele-in telephony
phony could
couldnot
notproduce
produce
brain
brain
damage,
damage,
andand
the the
picture
picture
we saw
we could
saw could
be represented
be represented
as a
as a
psychological
psychologicalreaction
reaction
inin
itsits
purest
purest
form.36
form.36
For
For Stier,
Stier,in
inother
otherwords,
words,
the
the
telephone
telephone
syndrome
syndrome
distilled
distilled
the phenomenon
the phenomenon
of
of
33
33 Ewald
EwaldStier,
Stier,'Die
'DieSchreckwirkung
Schreckwirkung
als als
Ursache
Ursache
nervoser
nervoser
Storungen,
Storungen,
mit besonderer
mit besonderer
Berucksichtigungen
Berucksichtigungender
der
sogennanten
sogennanten
Telephonunfalle
Telephonunfalle
im Fernsprechdienst',
im Fernsprechdienst',
RPM 47.01,
RPM 14575/1,
47.01, 14575/1,
Bl.
Bl. 1-4;
1-4; idem,
idem,Uber
Uberdie
die
sogennante
sogennante
Unfallneurosen
Unfallneurosen
(Leipzig
(Leipzig
1926);1926);
idem,idem,
'Soziologie
'Soziologie
der
der
Nervositat'
Nervositat'ininA.A.Gottstein
Gottstein
(ed.),
(ed.),
Handbuch
Handbuch
der der
sozialen
sozialen
Hygiene
Hygiene
(Berlin
(Berlin
1927), 1927),
615-26;615-26;
idem, idem,
'Vortrag',
'Vortrag',Arbeit
Arbeitund
undGesundheit,
Gesundheit,
Schriftenreihe
Schriftenreihe
der Reichsarbeitsministerium,
der Reichsarbeitsministerium,
vol. 13 vol.
(Berlin
13 (Berlin
1929),
1929), 44-53.
44-53.
34
34 RPM
RPM 47.01,
47.01,14575/1,
14575/1,
Bl.Bl.
3-4.
3-4.
35 RPM 47.01, 14575/1, Bl. 72-77.
36 Stier, 'Vortrag', op. cit., 44.
214
the industrial accident to its essence. In so doing it demonstrated, with the

precision of a laboratory experiment, the impossibility of traumatic neurosis
as clinical syndrome.
Finding no evidence of organic brain damage in the patient, Stier turned her
affliction into a purely 'psychological' disorder. This conclusion was of a piece

with the stress he placed on the conceptual distance that lay between contemporary medicine on the one hand and nineteenth-century psychology and its
residues in popular opinion on the other. For Stier, restoring the 'whole' person to its place at the centre of psychiatry meant restoring the role of will to
its primacy in mental life. In decoupling neurosis from accident, Stier was
ultimately also severing it from its roots in nineteenth-century somaticist psy-
chiatry. The 'pseudo-illness' of traumatic neurosis, he argued, was rooted in a

myth of mechanical causality, a kind of false materialism - a point he reinforced by framing his attacks on insurance entitlements in terms of a critique
of the 'materialist worldview' shared by employees under the sway of socialist

rhetoric. In their naive insistence that they 'had received an electric shock', the
operators simply demonstrated that they suffered from a disease of literalmindedness, the hysterical symptom par excellence.
Here I shall summarize briefly one case history that illustrates the implications of the postwar shift away from nerves as object of analysis. Written in
1919 by Dr Martin Reichardt of the Psychiatric Clinic of the University of
Wiirzberg, it surveyed the case of Anna M., the victim of an accident in 1908.37
In her original complaint, Anna M. claimed that she had been physically
injured by electrical current, although in a later statement she said that her
illness had been caused by loud crackling noises. Reichardt seized on this
change, arguing that it undermined the physiological explanation: 'Transfer of
electricity is no longer claimed. The cause of the nervous shock is not directly,
but only indirectly, the strong current.' Based on the available evidence,
Reichardt found no reason to assume any kind of 'shock effect'. He proceeded
to subject previous opinions, which had resulted in partial compensation, to
scathing critique. He rejected the term nervous concussion, used by one original examining doctor, as a popular concept without scientific validity. He also
dismissed all the so-called 'objective symptoms' observed during Anna M.'s
stay at a previous clinic. The shrinkage of her visual field; the loss of sensitivity
on her left side; her heightened reflexes and neuralgic tics - these alleged
'objective symptoms' were all purely subjective: 'They are very close to normal
suggestion on the one hand and in part also conscious exaggeration and simulation on the other.' In short, concluded Reichardt, the accident in 1908 had
been harmless: 'The actual cause of the [patient's] condition is not the accident
but on the one hand her psychopathic weakness of will and lack of will to
health; and on the other the suggestive effects of the compensation proceedings.' This opinion may be taken as illustrating the logic of a process of disem-
37 RPM 47.01, 14575/1, BI. 34-43.
215
bodiment. Shock, it might be said, is losing its bodily referents or co-ordinates,
becoming relocated to a purely psychological domain.
There is one further dimension to this story that helps illustrate this transformation of the body into construct of the will. This concerns the psychologi-
cal testing enterprise surrounding operators. In this context we encounter a

seeming paradox: for if Stier's objective was, as I have argued, to dismantle the
mechanistic model of traumatic neurosis - an undertaking for which the

operators suited his purposes admirably - then contemporaneous developments in industrial psychology were entangling the self ever more deeply with-
in a mechanical register of measurement and analysis. The key here lies in a

certain construction of the relation between women and industrial labour.
It was with good reason that Siegfried Kracauer designated telephone operators 'as natural subjects for industrial psychology'.38 They were at the centre of
research in this field in the early 1920s, led by psycho-technician Fritz Giese.39
Giese was a figure in the 'reactionary modernist' mould who combined industrial psychology with a romantic emphasis on the need to 're-spiritualize' the
workplace that eventually won him favour among the National Socialists.40
Simply put, his project represented a form of psychological Taylorism, which
proceeded by disassembling processes of 'mental work' into parts and then reassembling them for optimal efficiency. Giese broke down each component of
the operator's work into individual mental or sensory-motor tasks (visual
recognition of incoming call, insertion of the jack into correct place on the
switchboard, and so forth), then calculated the time to perform each, before
finally compiling what he called its corresponding psychophysical profile.
In carrying out his investigations, Giese employed a battery of graphical

devices (tachistoscopes, kymographs, pneumographs) for measuring the effects
of fatigue and over-exertion on faculties like attention, memory and visual

integration of complex stimulus fields. These studies were then worked up into
a series of comprehensive measures for economizing energy and improving

efficiency. Unlike the psychiatrists, Giese placed fatigue at the front and centre
of his analyses, and made its elimination a key part of his objective. But Giese
also strove to integrate other aspects of the operator's being into his analyses
(so-called 'ethical-erotic' diagnoses). In one study, the operator was hooked up
38 Kracauer, op. cit., 37. On the general connection between women and assembly-line procedures see Annemarie Troger, 'The Creation of a Female Assembly-Line Proletariat' in R.
Bridenthal, A. Grossmann and M. Kaplan (eds), When Biology became Destiny: Women in
Weimar and Nazi Germany (New York 1984), 237-70; and, for a Kracauerian reading of Weimar-
era rationalization, Detlev Peukert, The Weimar Republic: The Crisis of Classical Modernity
(Harmondsworth 1991).
39 Giese, Berufspsychologische Beobachtungen, op. cit. For details on Giese, see Ulfried Geuter,
Die Professionalisierung der deutschen Psychologie im Nationalsozialismus (Frankfurt/Main
1988), 215-36; Rabinbach, The Human Motor, op. cit., 271-88.

40 The term 'reactionary modernist' comes from Jeffrey Herf, Reactionary Modernism:
Technology, Culture, and Politics in Weimar and the Third Reich (Cambridge 1984).
216
to a pneumograph and given an album full of postcards depicting erotic

scenes. The investigator then left the room, and, through a peephole, watched
while she leafed through the album. The pneumograph matched the process of
turning from one picture to the next to her respiration curve.
The test that best illustrates Giese's objectives involved a device called a
'self-registering attention-measuring apparatus'. Employing a series of kymographs attached to the operator's fingers by electrical wires, these tests enabled
the test subject herself directly to observe and improve on her own reactions
and performance. Giese's desire to reify the test procedure in a format so
simple that it could be essentially self-administered - thus enlisting the

subject's participation in her own rationalization - must be understood within the context of his larger objective of fashioning a politically-neutral alternative to the overtly disciplinary forms of surveillance that had previously
regulated switchboard work.41 Giese later extracted a general testing principle
from his research on operators: the so-called telegram-test, which measured

ability to condense messages into telegram form as an indicator of the subject's
internalization of the principles of work economy: speed, brevity, reliability.

Tests such as this became incorporated into the examination process used for
selecting and training candidates for employment.
Although an ardent proponent of rationalization, Giese's was a selfconsciously German version of Taylorist scientific management, with its
connotations of de-skilling, monotony and 'joyless' work. Drawing on an
explicitly Nietzschean concept of the will, Giese conceived of industrial work
within the framework of a neo-vitalist economy of labour which defined
human worth in terms of sacrifice to national well-being.42 The ostensible
purpose was to uphold the integrity of the self; yet far from doing so, Giesean
psychology - by making the total individual, body and soul, its object radically intensified the principles of work science, inscribing the principle of
efficiency into the very core of the operator's being.
This rationalization of the labouring body had its counterpart in another
important dimension of Giese's project: his recuperation of the sovereign, male
self and of a gendered social order. Giese's ambivalence about the cultural
implications of rationalization registered in the fact that he explicitly exempted attributes like courage and nobility - the masculine virtues - from
psycho-technical analysis and experimentation. The compensatory function of
this idealization of the male self may be traced back to the wartime inversion
of gender roles that had occurred in Germany, a moment that had dramatically accelerated the entry of women into public life. Beyond his interest in
work per se, Giese's quest for information about the operator's neurological,
mental and 'moral' state was conditioned by anxiety about her position with41 For an example of such methods of surveillance, and the debates they triggered, see RPM
47.01, 5109, 'Schule fur Fernsprechgehilfinnen und Telegraphenbeamten'. See Giese, Berufspsychologische Beobachtungen, op. cit., 32, for his attempts to justify his own methods vis-a-vis
those of the RPM. See also RPM 47.01, 13524, 'Psychotechnische Eignungspriifung', 1924-1926.
42 See Fritz Giese, Nietzsche: Die Erfiillung (Tuibingen 1934).
217
in the new Weimar social order. Operators' insistence on the right to work and
on social insurance entitlements mirrored their assumption of a consciously
modern, rational lifestyle that included all the prerogatives of the New
Woman (using contraceptives, waiting longer to get married, going to movies,
smoking cigarettes). Nowhere were the anxieties aroused by the spectre of the
'new woman' more evocatively represented than in Giese's book Girlkultur, a
key text on the mass culture of the Weimar era.
Despite their avowedly neutral intent, Giese's proposals became caught up
in the conflicts between the Reichspostministerium (RPM) and its personnel in
the 1920s. After the fiscal emergency of 1923, the German state mounted a
concerted effort to step up its rationalization campaign, at the same time
cutting back public sector employment and expenditure. Over 13,000 operators (18 per cent of the total of 66,000) were eventually let go by the RPM.43
The operators' association, the Verband der Telephonistinnen, responded to
this development by writing to the postal ministry in November 1923 - in
the midst of that year's catastrophic hyperinflation - to voice its objection
to cutbacks and intensified rationalization.44 In an article published the following year, Elsa Kolshorn, the head of the Verband, linked psycho-technical
'over-rationalization' to what she described as the administration's attack on
the present composition of the workforce. 'Systematic repression' of the
female personnel, she charged - particularly the uncompensated release of
newly-married and ailing operators whose health was compromised by

the 'nerve-shattering' nature of their job - was being facilitated by the
scientifically-intensified work of the remaining personnel.45
Operators also attacked Ewald Stier, accusing him of making it impossible

for them to receive a fair hearing. They argued that his views were compromised by his ties to the RPM, and reported stories of appalling treatment
suffered at his hands. One described her encounter with Stier as follows: 'The
examination was conducted in such a way as to intentionally incite my excited
nerves to the utmost. Every word was meant to irritate and agitate me, making
me more ill than I already was.' Another young woman, accused to her face of
feigning her symptoms in order to get a pension, responded by saying, 'I don't
want a pension, I only want to be employed.' Stier's cryptic response: 'The

Postal Service knows nothing of employment, it only knows work!'46 It was no
wonder, editorialized the Verband's journal, that these examinations drove

patients to the verge of breakdown. Stier's examinations were more traumatic
than the original incident itself.
Stier reacted to such charges by citing them as evidence of the pathological

nature of social insurance itself. This line of argument became crucial to the
medical campaign against the inflation of accident neurosis claims and the
43 Nienhaus, Vater Staat, op. cit., 74.
44 See RPM 47.01, 14575/1, Bl. 125. See also Nienhaus, Vater Staat, op. cit., 142-51.
45 Else Kohlshorn, 'Die Lage der weibliche Post- und Telegraphenbeamtinnen', Archiv fiiur
Frauenarbeit, 1 (1924), 80-1.
46 'Wie Professor Dr. Stier Unfallverletzte behandelt', Unter den Reichsadler, 27.9.23, 77.
218
Kafkaesque
Kafkaesquebureaucratic
bureaucraticprocesses
processes
they
they
spawned.
spawned.
Stier
Stier
stood
stood
at the
at forefront
the forefront
of
of this
this medical-political
medical-politicalbacklash,
backlash,
using
using
hishis
casecase
studies
studies
of the
of operators
the operators
as theas the
empirical
empirical basis
basisfor
fora abroader
broader
study
study
of of
what
what
he called
he called
the the
'sociology
'sociology
of neuroof neurosis'.
sis'. Arguing
Arguingthat
thathehecould
could
not
not
find
find
a single
a single
casecase
of telephone
of telephone
accident
accident
dating
dating
from
from before
before1901,
1901,Stier
Stierdepicted
depicted
it it
as the
as the
misbegotten
misbegotten
offspring
offspring
of the
ofinsurthe insur-
ance
ance law
law amended
amendedthat
thatyear.47
year.47
ToTo
underline
underline
further
further
thisthis
correlation,
correlation,
he drew
he drew
attention
attention to
tothe
thesocial
socialcomposition
composition
of of
thethe
personnel.
personnel.
Many
Many
operators,
operators,
he he
noted,
noted, were
weredaughters
daughtersofof
civil
civil
servants,
servants,
part
part
of an
of ever-expanding
an ever-expanding
sector
sector
of
of
public
public employees.
employees.Their
Theirhomogeneity
homogeneity
in in
terms
terms
of sex,
of sex,
age, age,
classclass
origin,
origin,
educa-education
tion and
and social
socialstatus
statusendowed
endowed
them
them
with
with
an especially
an especially
strong
strong
sensesense
of group
of group
identity.
identity. Stier
Stierinvested
investedthis
this
fact
fact
with
with
great
great
significance,
significance,
for it
for
suggested
it suggested
to him
to him
that
that the
the real
realexplanation
explanationfor
for
the
the
inflation
inflation
of claims
of claims
could
could
be sought
be sought
within
within
a
a
kind
kind of
of collective
collectivepersonality
personality
deformation
deformation
linked
linked
with
with
their
their
status
status
as emas employees
ployees of
ofthe
thestate.
state.HeHetraced
traced
thethe
increase
increase
in the
in the
number
number
of nervous
of nervous
invalids
invalids
within
within the
theCivil
CivilService
Servicetoto
the
the
fact
fact
that
that
'weak'
'weak'
individuals
individuals
tended
tended
to seek
to out
seek out
jobs
jobs offering
offeringspecial
specialprotection
protection
against
against
existential
existential
insecurity.
insecurity.
The result
The result
was a was a
parasitic
parasitic interaction
interactionbetween
between
nervous
nervous
affliction
affliction
andand
bureaucratic
bureaucratic
welfare
welfare
state,state,
culminating
culminatinginexorably
inexorablyinin
anan
'epidemic
'epidemic
of of
convalescence'.48
convalescence'.48
Given
Given such
suchviews,
views,ititwas
wasinevitable
inevitable
that
that
Stier
Stier
came
came
to regard
to regard
treatment
treatment
of of
traumatic
traumaticneurosis
neurosisasascounter-productive,
counter-productive,
worsening
worsening
the the
conditions
conditions
it sought
it sought
to cure.
cure. His
Hiswritings
writingsofofthe
the
later
later
1920s
1920s
placed
placed
increasing
increasing
emphasis
emphasis
on proon prophylactic
phylactic measures
measuressuch
suchasas
physical
physical
culture,
culture,
rational
rational
carecare
of the
of body
the body
and and
abstinence.49
abstinence.49Organized
Organizedathletic
athletic
activities
activities
became
became
a central
a central
reference
reference
point,point,
foreshadowing
foreshadowingthe
theregimentation
regimentation
of of
minds
minds
andand
bodies
bodies
thatthat
Siegfried
Siegfried
Kracauer
Kracauer
later
later cited
citedasasthe
thedefining
defining
characteristic
characteristic
of of
latelate
Weimar
Weimar
culture.
culture.
In increasing
increasingnumbers
numbersStier's
Stier's
professional
professional
colleagues
colleagues
echoed
echoed
his views,
his views,
sug- suggesting
gesting that
thatthe
theclaims
claimsprocess
process
itself,
itself,
rather
rather
than
than
the the
work,
work,
be considered
be considered
the the
true
true pathogen;
pathogen;the
theoccasion,
occasion,
as as
one
one
doctor
doctor
putput
it, for
it, for
the the
operator
operator
to 'set
to 'set
in motion
motionaagigantic
giganticapparatus',
apparatus',
thus
thus
gratifying
gratifying
her her
desire
desire
for attention.50
for attention.50
Perversely,
Perversely,the
thevery
verymechanisms
mechanisms
created
created
to cushion
to cushion
the the
shocks
shocks
of industrial
of industrial
society
society were
werebecoming
becomingimplicated
implicated
in in
a more
a more
general
general
social
social
crisis.
crisis.
So rationalSo rationalized
ized were
were the
theoperators
operatorsthat
that
they
they
hadhad
succeeded
succeeded
in making
in making
of nervous
of nervous
breakbreakdown
down itself
itselfan
anutterly
utterlyrationalized
rationalized
event,
event,
indeed
indeed
in virtually
in virtually
commodifying
commodifying
it.
it.
Such,
Such, it
it would
wouldseem,
seem,was
was
the
the
reasoning
reasoning
behind
behind
Stier's
Stier's
conviction
conviction
that that
the the
only
only solution
solutionlay
layininchanging
changing
the
the
accident
accident
insurance
insurance
lawslaws
he believed
he believed
to beto
the
be the
ultimate
ultimate cause
causeof
ofthe
theproblem,
problem,
so so
that:
that:
'(I)n'(I)n
these
these
lawslaws
the the
nervous
nervous
conseconsequences
quences of
ofaccident,
accident,which
which
areare
not
not
conditioned
conditioned
by discernible
by discernible
organic
organic
changes
changes
47
47 Stier,
Stier, Uber
Uberdie
diesogennante
sogennante
Unfallneurosen,
Unfallneurosen,
op. op.
cit.,cit.,
14. On
14. the
On medical
the medical
backlash
backlash
againstagainst
social
social insurance,
insurance,see
seeMichael
Michael
Kater,
Kater,
'Professionalization
'Professionalization
and and
Socialization
Socialization
of Physicians
of Physicians
in
in
Wilhelmine
Wilhelmineand
andWeimar
WeimarGermany',
Germany',
Journal
Journal
of Contemporary
of Contemporary
History,
History,
20, 4 20,
(October
4 (October
1985), 1985),
679; 679;
Young-Sun
Young-SunHong,
Hong,Welfare,
Welfare,
Modernity
Modernity
andand
thethe
Weimar
Weimar
State,
State,
1919-1933
1919-1933
(Princeton,
(Princeton,
NJ 1998),
NJ 1998),
239-76;
239-76; and
andespecially
especiallyEghigian,
Eghigian,
Making
Making
Security
Security
Social,
Social,
op. cit.,
op. cit.,
233-70.
233-70.
48
48 Stier,
Stier, 'Soziologie
'Soziologieder
derNervositat',
Nervositat',
op.op.
cit.,
cit.,
620.620.
49 Ibid., 626.
50 RPM 47.01, 14575/1, Bl. 29.
219
in the
the central
centralnervous
nervoussystem,
system,shall
shall
bebe
expressly
expressly
excluded
excluded
from
from
the the
liability
liability
of of
the state.'51
In a context of national debate over the welfare state, pressure to revise the
accident insurance laws gathered support from numerous quarters. Intense

lobbying of the German legal community culminated on 2 December 1924,
when Stier gave a two-and-a-half-hour talk to about 100 judges in the lecture
hall of Berlin's Charite Psychiatric Clinic. Armed with freshly-gathered statis-
tics, he drove home his point that the causes of accident neurosis should be
looked for not in work-related conditions but in morbid fears and wishes.52
His argument received backing from the leaders of German academic psychiatry, notably Oswald Bumke of Munich and Karl Bonhoeffer of Berlin. A
little less than two years later, on 24 September 1926, Stier's position became
the basis of the decision handed down by the Imperial Insurance Office disqualifying traumatic neurosis as a compensatable illness. In the end, as one
doctor put it, it was a problem of the laws: 'The causes of the emergence of the
so-called accident neuroses lie in our laws.'53
In the wake of this decision, hundreds of operators lost their pensions and it
became exceedingly difficult for others to receive a sympathetic hearing.

Indeed, if we are to believe Stier, the entire problem seems to have vanished
almost overnight. On the basis of a questionnaire he distributed to various
public authorities, he was able to report in 1929 to the Labour Ministry the
virtual disappearance of so-called 'fear neuroses', among not just operators
but also railway personnel and other state employees. Not the least welcome
aspect of this in his eyes was the disappearance of what he described as the
'spectre of the Zitternden (tremblers), those people who yammer and complain
incessantly about thousands of ailments'.54
If Germany in the Wilhelmine era had been able to reach a fragile social consensus concerning the relation between modernity and socio-psychological
distress, amid the very different conjunctures of the Weimar era this consensus
unravelled and was reconstituted on an entirely new basis. Pre-war views

surrounding the causes and treatment of nervous affliction yielded to the con-
viction that personal weakness and the pathologies of the German welfare
state lay at the heart of the problem. The key to this shift was furnished by dismantling one of the cornerstones of pre-war psychiatry. At precisely the time
that Freud was resurrecting what he called the 'old, naive theory of shock'
51 RPM 47.01, 14575/1, Bl. 117.
52 RPM 47.01, 14575/1, Bl. 183. See also Stier's 'Arztliche Leitsatze zur Frage der Unfall-
neurose', 3.6.26.
53 RPM 47.01, 14575/1, Bl. 234. See Oswald Bumke, 'Die Revision der Neurosenfrage',
Zentralblatt fur die gesamte Neurologie und Psychiatrie, 41 (1925), 671-7; and Bonhoeffer's position paper, RPM 47.01, 14575/1, Bl. 163ff.
54 Stier, 'Vortrag', op. cit., 47-8. For reactions from doctors more sympathetic to the operators'
point of view, see 'Abbau der Neurosen', Vossische Zeitung, 24.1.27.
220
in his own writings, German psychiatrists were jettisoning it as a mythical

remnant of an outdated worldview. But if shock was in some sense a myth, it
was a rational, concrete myth, one whose origins lay in the all-too-real dislocations and stresses of technological modernity. With remarkable ease, the
decision of 1926 conjured away the problem of accident neurosis, and with it,
the spectre of the Zitterer, the subject in whose body the shocks of industrial
society were inscribed. The result of this resolution - or repression - of the

problem was the effective decoupling of modernity and nervous discontent. If
such discontent was the price of civilization, and social insurance the price of
managing this discontent, then this price had become too high.
Andreas Killen
is currently a Visiting Lecturer at Brooklyn College, CUNY. He is

working on a book entitled Berlin Electropolis: Shock, Nerves and
German Modernity, 1870-1930.
55 Sigmund Freud, Beyond the Pleasure Principle (New York 1961), 25.

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From Shock to Schreck: Psychiatrists, Telephone Operators and Traumatic Neurosis in

From Shock to Schreck: Psychiatrists,

In the summer of 1911, Fraulein Theodora F., a telephone operator in

electricity'. As a result of this second 'nervous shock', Fraulein F. entered a

of industrial society. It examines the way in which the disease-picture

recast the medical paradigm underlying it in a way that made operators

themselves responsible for their illnesses. Focusing on interactions between

in 1926. Conceived originally as a quintessential malady of technological

Journal of Contemporary History Vol 38 No 2

oversaw Germany's telephone system put it in 1926: 'The causes of the

As is well known, late nineteenth-century German bourgeois consciousness

Harmony of Illusions: Inventing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Princeton, NJ 1995).

Killen: From Shock to Schreck

Journal of Contemporary History Vol 38 No 2

Women' and as members of what psycho-technician Fritz Giese called

operators epitomized for Kracauer the serialized individuals and 'girl-clusters'

Part of the modernity of switchboard work was the intense discipline it

Killen: From Shock to Schreck

Journal of Contemporary History Vol 38 No 2

Yet cases of nervous breakdown among the personnel showed no signs of

Killen: From Shock to Schreck

19 RPM 47.01, 14575/1, Bl. 288.

Journal of Contemporary History Vol 38 No 2

growing body of medical literature emerged offering practitioners advice on

'objective symptoms' believed to guarantee reliable diagnosis. But almost

she was an outright malingerer. Based on his own examination, Wernicke

physical consequences of an electrical jolt.'?

Wernicke's opinion, which resulted in full compensation, illustrated what

Killen: From Shock to Schreck

nineteenth-century psychology: namely the analogy of the nervous system to

history behind it, extending back to mid-century physiologists such as

body as a thermodynamic system or dynamo, subject to energy flows and

Instruments in the Development of Electrophysiology, 1845-1912', Historical Studies in the

Journal of Contemporary History Vol 38 No 2

outside, functional disturbances or even chronic over-stimulation and overburdening may

The author went on to draw an analogy between 'overloaded nerves' and

Technological and nervous breakdown were, indeed, intimately linked.

26 'Die Nervositat der Beamten', Zeitschrift fur Eisenbahn-Telegraphen-Beamte, 23 (1905),

Killen: From Shock to Schreck

Journal of Contemporary History Vol 38 No 2

Schulpsychiater um die deutschen "Kriegsneurotiker" 1915-1945', 1999. Zeitschrift fur

Killen: From Shock to Schreck

Journal of Contemporary History Vol 38 No 2

the industrial accident to its essence. In so doing it demonstrated, with the

affliction into a purely 'psychological' disorder. This conclusion was of a piece

chiatry. The 'pseudo-illness' of traumatic neurosis, he argued, was rooted in a

of the 'materialist worldview' shared by employees under the sway of socialist

37 RPM 47.01, 14575/1, BI. 34-43.

Killen: From Shock to Schreck

bodiment. Shock, it might be said, is losing its bodily referents or co-ordinates,

becoming relocated to a purely psychological domain.

cal testing enterprise surrounding operators. In this context we encounter a

mechanistic model of traumatic neurosis - an undertaking for which the

in a mechanical register of measurement and analysis. The key here lies in a

In carrying out his investigations, Giese employed a battery of graphical

of fatigue and over-exertion on faculties like attention, memory and visual

a series of comprehensive measures for economizing energy and improving

1988), 215-36; Rabinbach, The Human Motor, op. cit., 271-88.

Journal of Contemporary History Vol 38 No 2

to a pneumograph and given an album full of postcards depicting erotic

simple that it could be essentially self-administered - thus enlisting the

from his research on operators: the so-called telegram-test, which measured

internalization of the principles of work economy: speed, brevity, reliability.