Case Study 99

Hugo Munsterberg Death

Hugo Münsterberg (June 1, 1863 – December 16, 1916) was a German-American psychologist and a pioneer of applied psychology. Munsterberg was born in Prussia and studied in Germany. He became the research assistant of Wilhelm Wundt, the first person to call himself a psychologist.

Munsterberg worked at Harvard in the US as part of an exchange program with the University of Berlin. He became popular within scientific community and the general public. He made contributions to clinical and forensic psychology.

Munsterberg was an opponent of parapsychology and exposed as fraudulent the psychic Eusapia Palladino.

Munsterberg fell out of favor in the pre WWI years because of his support of German policies and the Monarchy. People in France, the UK and the US considered him an enemy and the German government worried he might be a spy. Munsterberg died of a hemorrhagic stroke in 1916 with little fanfare.

Frits Bernard (28 August 1920 – 23 May 2006) was a Dutch clinical psychologist, sexologist and gay and pedophile activist. Bernard was a founding member of the Dutch Society for Sexual Reform that sought to decriminalize sexual behavior including pedophilia. He founded the Enclave Circle that later became the Enclave International Fellowship, the first pedophilia advocacy group. In 1986 he received a “lifetime achievement award” from NAMBLA (National Association of Man Boy Love).

Among his books are

  • Persecuted minority (Vervolgde Minderheid), Enclave, Rotterdam (1960) – Bernard
  • Costa Brava, Enclave, Rotterdam (1960) – Bernard

Bernard died in 2006.

Hugo Munsterberg Birth