Der Struwwelpeter — Die Geschichte vom Suppen-Kaspar
Channel: maerchenonkel71
Date: 03/03/2015

The Story of the Soup Kaspar, story from the picture book Der Struwwelpeter by Dr. Heinrich Hofmann, oublished in 1845 and intended for children age 3 to 6.
Dr. Hoffmann was a psychiatrist in Frankfurt, and it is probable that this story has a real background: anorexia. He might have seen cases of this disorder during his carreer. Until 1984, there was a grave of a boy preserved in Leoben who died in 1834 aged 9. The gravestone had the inscription "Suppenkaspar". As cause of death, the civil register notes: "refuses food intake".
The phenomenon of Anorexia nervosa, or the (voluntary) refusal to eat was a relatively new phenomenon at the time: The beginning of the 19th century was the first period in European history when food became abundant. Before, people were at best just not starving and had their daily menu to adapt to the food that was available at that moment.