Bender, Hans (1907-1991)

Professor of psychology, author, noted parapsychologist. He was born February 5, 1907, at Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. He studied with Pierre Janet in Paris during the 1930s and received his Ph.D. from the Psychological Institute at Bonn University in 1936. He was the only parapsychologist to avoid the general suppression of psychical research during the Nazi era. In 1954 he obtained the Chair for Psychology and Border Areas of Psychology at the University of Freiburg, which became the center from which parapsychology was slowly revived after World War II. He retired from the university in 1975; then he directed the independent institute known as the Institute Für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene (Institute for Border Areas of Psychology and Mental Hygiene). From 1957 to the time of his death in 1991, Bender acted as editor of the Zeitshrift für Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie (Journal of Parapsychology and Border Areas of Psychology). He was a member of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologie and the Parapsychological Association, an honorary member of Società Italiana di Parapsicologia, and a corresponding member of the Society for Psychical Research, London.

A distinguished parapsychologist who wrote a number of books and articles on a wide range of subjects including ESP, psychokinesis, mediumship, spontaneous phenomena, and spiritual healing, Bender was best known in the English-speaking world for his work on poltergeists, about which he has authored a number of papers. The Institute für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene houses a large library relating to border areas of psychology. The library is administered by the University Library of Freiburg, and the address of the Institute is: Eichhalde 12, D-7800 Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.

Sources:

Bender, Hans. "New Developments in Poltergeist Research." Proceedings of the Parapsychological Association 6 (1969): 81.

——. Unser sechter Sinn. Stuttgart: Wilhelm Goldman Verlag, 1982.