The Reich University, Strasbourg was naturally dissolved after the war was over and after a short stint at an American detention camp, he and his family (he had a wife and children by then) moved to his hometown Freiburg in Breisgau. In 1946 he received a teaching assignment within the faculty of psychology at the University of Freiburg. This gave him the opportunity to do some extensive research into parapsychology. From then on until his death, his main areas of interest were the phenomenon of dowsing rods, dreams, healers, astrology, precognition, psychokinesis, and particularly hauntings. The latter investigations were to a considerable degree responsible for his renown in the public arena. His friends and his enemies called him the ghost-professor. Something Bender had no interest in whatsoever were the physical phenomena produced by mediumism, materialisation apparitions and life after death. All paranormal apparitions were caused by the human psyche as far as he publicly admitted and they arose from the risers of the subconscious. This concept is called animistic in contrast to the spiritistic concept that asserts that a lot of apparitions stem from the influence of the deceased. Professor Bender once told me in a private conversation: “I have to agree with you that the physical phenomena are of particular importance, but one must not behave like this Dr. Gerloff and visit Einer Nielsen in order to have breakfast with his grandmother.” This is why he never visited Einer Nielsen (1894 – 1965) in Copenhagen, the most eminent European materialisation medium of the 20th century . Dr. Gerloff on the other hand tested and investigate Nielsen a number of times and wrote books about him. Bender utilised some special energy for the construction and setting up of his own institute. He collected the money for it, bought a piece of land at the Eichhalde in Freiburg and managed to inaugurate the institute, he called it “Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie and Psychohygiene”, in 1950. This institute, with Bender as its manager, was however not affiliated with the university, it was a purely private affair. As an associated professor at the University of Freiburg, Bender received a teaching post for “Psychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie” in 1954. This associated professorship was converted into a full professorship in 1966 and Bender was its director until his retirement in 1975.
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