[K. Birnbaum's concept of psychopathic personalities]

K. Birnbaum's concept of psychopathic personalities is analyzed. K. Birnbaum was one of the first psychiatrists who had suggested the differentiation of psychopathic personalities according to the degree of social damage they caused. As personality abnormality classification according to one prominent trait that led to hiding signs of the general psychopathic constitution in clinical description, as the reliance on erroneous genetic theories with idealization of social behavior norms led to the antihuman medical recommendations. The analysis of K. Birnbaum's psychopathological concept confirms the widespread prevalence of 'the degeneration theory' in the views of many German psychiatrists before and after the Nazi ascension to power.