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Riedesser, Peter

Prof. Dr. Peter Riedesser, child and youth psychiatrist, deceased 2008

Peter Riedesser was born in 1945 and died in 2008. After studying medicine he worked as an assistant in the psychiatric clinic of the University of Freiburg (adult psychiatry, child and youth psychiatry). From 1979 he worked as a child and youth psychiatrist at the University Children's Hospital Freiburg and completed a psychoanalytical training at the Psychoanalytical Seminar Freiburg. From 1984 he was active in the organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) and participated in the development of care facilities and curricula for child and adolescent psychotherapy in the Middle East (focus on Iraq), in Southern Africa, and in Southeast Europe. In 1991 he was appointed professor of child and youth psychiatry at the University of Hamburg. He was also director of the Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of Childhood and Adolescence at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE).

Riedesser was considered an expert on trauma and one of the first to systematically investigate the psychology of militarization and armed violence. He was mainly concerned with the psychological traumatization of children. Through his tireless commitment, the Steffi Graf Foundation "Children for tomorrow" was founded.

Publications (selection):

  • Aufrüstung der Seelen. Militärpsychiatrie und Militärpsychologie in Deutschland und Amerika (with Axel Verderber). Dreisam, Freiburg im Breisgau 1985
  • Lehrbuch der Psychotraumatologie (with Gottfried Fischer). Reinhardt, Munich 1998
  • "Maschinengewehre hinter der Front". Zur Geschichte der deutschen Militärpsychiatrie (with Axel Verderber). Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1996 (2nd edition 2004)
  • Schwerpunktthema: Beziehung - Entwicklung - Nachhaltigkeit. Denkansätze aus Psychoanalyse und Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie. Beiträge eines Symposiums zum 60. Geburtstag von Peter Riedesser, edited by Hubertus Adam. [Festschrift.] Psychosozial-Verlag, Gießen 2007

German eulogy for Peter Riedesser. By Michael Schmidt-Salomon. hpd, 20.9.2008.