In the 19th century, the rise of statistics as a scientific discipline induced a new perception of suicide as both a mass phenomenon and a symptom of social pathology. High suicide rates were considered to be an indicator of flawed social cohesion. In the first part of my keynote lecture, I will be analysing social discourse in view of temporarily high suicide rates in times of upheaval. Be it world economic crisis, deportation of Jewish citizens, end of world war two, building or fall of the Berlin Wall, all these times of crisis were characterised by extraordinarily high suicide rates. In those times, many people committed suicide who wouldn't have taken their lives under normal circumstances. By use of examples from 20th century German history I will be showing how social meanings of suicide were generated and sustained. In this regard, I will point to bias and misinterpretations, too. In the second part, I will be discussing social reactions to high suicide rates in times of political stability. In contrast to politicised discussions of suicide in crisis periods, the discourse on long term causes conceives suicide not only as a social but also as a medical problem. As part of a global suicide prevention movement, by the end of the 1960s both in East and in West Germany institutions of suicide prevention were founded. I will be comparing these facilities created under very different political conditions and will be discussing achievements as well as misperceptions.