ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with power relations within the committals context in four sections, covering the era of the murder of the sick, German society in a state of collapse (1945–1949), the early GDR, and the early FRG. I examine civil as opposed to compulsory committals, showing that the former predominated during the Nazi era and in both successor states. I also reveal that, astonishingly, in all the cases compared—including the Nazi murder of the sick—relatives and the social environment played a crucial role. To this end, I undertake the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of medical records. This chapter also explores in depth the legal parameters, (failed) attempts to change them after 1945, and financing issues. Against this background, I discuss the role of the asylum in the different societies. In a fifth diachronous section, based on autobiographical documents, I trace the highly variable perspectives of those admitted to institutions, ranging from outright rejection through helplessness to gratitude.
