Everything about Gert Postel totally explained
Gert Postel (born June 18, 1958 in
Bremen) is a German
impostor, best known for successfully applying as a
medical doctor several times without ever having received medical education.
Gert Postel went to
Hauptschule and finished his training as a
mail carrier. Postel himself said that his mother died because of a maladministered
depression treatment and that he himself had briefly been in a
juvenile ward. From these events, he claimed to have gained the motivation to expose and embarrass
psychiatry.
Career as impostor
Public health officer in Flensburg
In September 1982, Postel successfully applied for the position of assistant public health officer in
Flensburg using the
pseudonym of "
Dr. med. Dr. phil. Clemens Bartholdy". When asked about his
dissertation's subject, he reportedly replied "On
Pseudologia phantastica [withregard to] the example of the character Felix Krull from the homonymous novel by
Thomas Mann and cognitively induced biases in stereotypical judgment".
Due to coincidence, his true identity was discovered in April 1983 and Postel had to leave his position in public service. In 1984, he received a
suspended sentence and was placed on
probation for multiple instances of
forgery of documents, unauthorized assumption of academic titles and forgery of health certificates. Also during the eighties, by his own account, he lived seven years in a partnership with a female judge.
Other employments as a medical doctor followed, for example in a private clinic and as a surgeon major with the
Bundeswehr. In 1993, Postel married graduate historian Verena Epp.
After studying
theology for a while, Postel managed to return to medical service in 1995. Using his birth name, he obtained the position of a senior physician in a clinic specialized on neurology and psychiatry in
Zschadraß near
Leipzig. As a part of his job, he issued psychiatric expertises and held lectures for medical doctors without raising suspicion with anyone. By chance, a co-worker recognised him on July 10, 1997, forcing him to go into hiding. At that time, an appointment was already set for an interview with Hans Geisler, then
Saxony's
Minister of State for social affairs, health and family, on the occasion of Postel's appointment to a professorship and to the position of chief of medicine at Saxony's hospital for psychiatry and neurology at Arnsdorf near
Dresden.
Imprisonment
Gert Postel was arrested on May 12, 1998. In 1999, the
state court in Leipzig sentenced him to four years in jail for repeated imposture and forgery of documents. Following his probationary release in January 2001, Postel published an account of his experiences, titled
"Doktorspiele" (
Playing doctor). Intended to be an exposure of psychiatric establishment, the book made him an idol within the
anti-psychiatry movement in Germany.
The irresistible
In 2002,
ARD broadcast an
NDR-produced
docudrama titled
"Der Unwiderstehliche – Die 1000 Lügen des Gert Postel" (
"The irresistible - the 1000 lies of Gert Postel"), directed by Kai Christiansen. The film features both re-enacted scenes and footage from an interview with Postel.
In contrast to the broadly benign stance towards Postel in German media coverage up to that time which tended to draw comparisons with
Der Hauptmann von Köpenick, the film takes a far more critical approach, including themes like
narcissism. It also makes mention of Postel's alleged
stalking of several women, including a prosecutor investigating his case, and intimidation of a patient in Zschadraß, whom according to her own account Postel had threatened with transferral to a locked ward, for challenging his method of treatment.
Further Information
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