["Unschuldig hier eingesperrt und ausgeplündert"--the embroidered state's almanach (1871-76) of Emma Mohr from Erfurt].
Between 1872 and 1876 Emma Mohr (1833-?), a patient of the asylum Nietleben close to Halle, embroidered an astonishing tapestry, now in a private collection. It consists out of 48 little images surrounding a self portrait, showing biblical motives, depictions of the Emperor Wilhelm I. and several scenes out of the bourgeois life of the time which have not been identified yet. On the back of this so called "State-Album" Mohr sewed a petition to the Emperor and some accompanying letters, all diligently stitched in pieces of linen. She wanted to send the whole artefact off secretly but obviously did not succeed. The texts tell about what happened to her after she was taken to hospital in 1866. She complains in detail about how she was treated by the nurses and the psychiatrists, Heinrich Damerow (1798-1866) and Moritz Koeppe (1832-1879). The purpose of the "State-Album" was to warn the Emperor about the criminal acts of his civil servants for which her case was only an example.
Röske
Thomas
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D001154:Art / Q000266:history*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000266:history*; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000266:history*