Focusing on the period between the interwar years and the 1956 revolution, the first part of the study uses discourse analysis to examine formulations made by representatives of the psy-sciences (psychiatry, psychology and special education) concerning the relationship between criminal behaviour and disability. The second part explores the transformation of the special-education institutional system after 1945 through the analysis of ministry archives, faculty meeting records, and documents from the State School for Special Education in Pécs and the Neurological and Psychiatric Clinic of the University of Pécs. Bringing these two analytical perspectives together provides insight into how the concept of “moral disability” was constructed in professional discourse and institutional practice. The findings indicate that experts often traced the causes of juvenile delinquency to social factors, but their interpretations typically remained anchored in the family background. The sources suggest that the concept of “moral disability” functioned not only as a diagnostic label but also as a systemic selection mechanism, which deployed the framework of intellectual deficiency to manage transgressive behaviours, while the effects of individual trauma and social environment were relegated to the background.

The remark quoted in the title was recorded on the medical record of a patient by a doctor at Lipótmező Psychiatric Hospital on March 20, 1944, following the German troops’ entry into Hungary. The fifty-year-old Jewish woman, originally from Nagyvárad, had lost a son in forced labor service and was diagnosed with depression and paranoia. While in cases of paranoia it seems obvious to examine the patients’ experiences within the framework of persecution and the practices of the majority society, the culture and social environment play a similarly significant role in the construction of all other psychiatric patient roles. Analyzing the patient records created at Lipótmező between 1944 and 1945, the study examines the relationship between psychiatry and the persecution of Jews in Hungary. Instead of framing the inquiry in the collaboration-resistance dynamic during these years, I primarily focus on the process of constructing diagnoses. Medical records are narratives composed according to a rigorous set of rules, which allow an insight into the process of becoming a patient, as well as the interactions among the patients, their relatives (acquaintances), and the doctor. Given that medical protocol considered verbatim notes a crucial element of the diagnosis, this source offers a singular perspective on the experiences of psychiatric patients. For people legally classified as Jewish, being referred to psychiatry carried a new stigma, both separation from the community and a possibility of refuge. At the same time, psychiatrists often had to deal with competing loyalties. Professional standards, helping the persecuted, and complying with political power all influenced their decisions within the dichotomies of genuine patient vs feigning illness, treatable vs disciplinable disorder, home care vs institutional care. While previous explorations of the topic primarily approached it through records of the People’s Courts or institutional history, this paper deploys case studies to trace the intrapsychological processes of persecution. Due to regulations concerning personality rights, the subject remains particularly under-researched in international scholarship.