Anyone kill themselves when war was announced?

[peterparker]

I was wondering whether there are any reports of people comitting suicide when (any) war broke out. If so, what was the motivation? Fear of Nazi occupation?

[sandyRoe]

The writer, Virginia Wolff, is said to have committed suicide at the outbreak of war.

[sandyRoe]

Though she died in March '41. So that's not true.

[bookbinder]

This is also not quite what you are looking for, but, in "Berlin: the downfall 1945" by Antony Beevor, there are two particular photographs (between pp. 218 and 219). One is of a German engineer who hanged himself, and the other is of three dead members of his family (they appear to have been shot), before the arrival of the Red Army. They committed suicide when they knew that the war would soon be on their doorstep.

[Catapa]

It is rare that people commit suicide at the outbreak of war. A few war criminals committed suicide at the end of the war (e.g. "The Führer" himself), but even that is rare.

[ladyalex]

It is my understanding that the suicide rate went down during World War 2.
However, this begs many questions, like how did they record it, were fewer suicides recorded to maintain morale etc etc.
At that time, attempted suicide was a criminal act and people were prosecuted not to mention a huge cause of shame for the remaining family, so perhaps coroners were 'kind' and modified theri recordings then.
It's an interesting area....for some...

[Terino00]

Tony Blair ---- no sorry that was just wishful thinking :)