ABSTRACT
In 1988, the "father of modern hepatology" Hans Popper died. His medical merits are numerous and outstanding and have already been praised many times. In particular, his research on liver diseases has gained widespread recognition. Much less well known is the fact that Popper was dismissed from the University of Vienna due to his Jewish ancestry after the "Anschluss" ("annexation") of Austria to the Third Reich and subsequently emigrated to the USA.Popper's biographers, who primarily belonged to his close circle of friends and colleagues, were unquestionably aware of this central caesura in Popper's life. However, the scientific analysis and presentation of this very event has been incomplete and, moreover, feeds heavily from the personal memories of the authors, which are inevitably subjective. For precisely this reason, the present contribution focuses on Popper's role as a politically persecuted Jew and the resulting implications.The study comes to the conclusion that Popper shows all the characteristics of a Nazi victim, namely a Jewish background, the dismissal from university, the threat of persecution by the Gestapo, and the subsequent forced emigration. Popper decided against remigration after 1945 and instead earned professional recognition in the USA and later worldwide. In the 1980s, Popper was criticized for his permissive attitude towards his former academic teacher, the doctor and Nazi criminal Hans Eppinger. Even if he did not completely succeed in making his behavior in the "Eppinger Case" understandable and comprehensible, the events gradually fell into oblivion, as evidenced by several recent posthumous statements of honor in German-speaking countries.
Subject(s)
Gastroenterology/history , Jews/history , National Socialism/history , Austria , History, 20th Century , HumansSubject(s)
National Socialism , Pathologists/history , Emigrants and Immigrants , Germany , History, 20th Century , Humans , Jews , PrejudiceABSTRACT
Without a doubt, Frankfurt Pathologist Philipp Schwartz is one of the most iconic scholars in recent medical history. As the son of Jewish parents, he was forced to emigrate after Hitler seized power in 1933. Despite this repressive experience, he succeeded in founding the "Notgemeinschaft deutscher Wissenschaftler im Ausland" ("Emergency Association of German Scientists Abroad") in 1933, with which he helped hundreds of forcibly emigrated university teachers find academic positions. In addition, he had a decisive influence on the reform of the higher education system in Turkey, rendered outstanding achievements in neuropathology, and attained leading positions as a scientist in the exile countries Turkey and the USA.However, as successful as the pathologist's scientific career in exile may have been, his relationship with Germany remained problematic throughout his life. Against this background, this article focuses on the reception of Philipp Schwartz in the different political systems of Germany - from the Weimar Republic to the Third Reich, and from post-war Germany to the recent past in the Federal Republic. This study is essentially based on primary sources from the University Archive of Frankfurt.Schwartz had a promising career in the Weimar Republic. In the aftermath of Hitler's takeover (1933) he was deprived of any perspectives in Germany and fled to Switzerland in the spring of 1933. His achievements as a full professor in Istanbul and as initiator of the Notgemeinschaft are remarkable in both scientific and political regards. Still, he was denied employment at the Goethe University Frankfurt. Until well after his death (1977), Philipp Schwartz's life and work received little attention in Germany. It was only after the turn of the millennium that he received the recognition he was denied during his lifetime.
Subject(s)
Jews/history , National Socialism/history , Pathologists/history , Societies, Medical/history , Germany , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , Humans , Societies, Medical/organization & administration , SwitzerlandABSTRACT
AIMS OF THE STUDY: This explorative study focuses on those pathologists who became victims of the Third Reich by being dismissed, disenfranchised, persecuted, expelled, murdered, or driven to suicide. Accordingly, it examines the question of how many - and which - pathologists were oppressed in the Nazi dictatorship. It also looks at the reasons for this and the effects that repression has had on the lives of those affected - both in the Third Reich and in postwar Germany. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study is based on archival source material, which was supplemented by a systematic evaluation of the relevant research literature. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: In total, the biographies of 89 pathologists could be reconstructed and evaluated. Of these, 67 persons were persecuted for "racial" or anti-Semitic reasons. Until their disenfranchisement, the majority were employed at a university. The majority of the examined pathologists fled abroad, with most immigrating to the USA and Great Britain and successfully establishing themselves there professionally. No indications of a return to their homeland could be found in the sample presented here. Reasons included a lack of career options and negative personal experiences in postwar Germany, such as in reparation proceedings. Quite a lot of those who remained in the German Reich died violently, either in concentration camps or by suicide.
Subject(s)
National Socialism , Pathologists , Cross-Sectional Studies , Germany , History, 20th Century , Humans , Pathologists/historyABSTRACT
In 1988, the "father of modern hepatology" Hans Popper died. His medical merits are numerous and outstanding and have already been praised many times. In particular, his research on liver diseases has gained widespread recognition. Much less well known is the fact that Popper was dismissed from the University of Vienna due to his Jewish ancestry after the "Anschluss" ("annexation") of Austria to the Third Reich and subsequently emigrated to the USA.Popper's biographers, who primarily belonged to his close circle of friends and colleagues, were unquestionably aware of this central caesura in Popper's life. However, the scientific analysis and presentation of this very event has been incomplete and, moreover, feeds heavily from the personal memories of the authors, which are inevitably subjective. For precisely this reason, the present contribution focuses on Popper's role as a politically persecuted Jew and the resulting implications.The study comes to the conclusion that Popper shows all the characteristics of a Nazi victim, namely a Jewish background, the dismissal from university, the threat of persecution by the Gestapo, and the subsequent forced emigration. Popper decided against remigration after 1945 and instead earned professional recognition in the USA and later worldwide. In the 1980s, Popper was criticized for his permissive attitude towards his former academic teacher, the doctor and Nazi criminal Hans Eppinger. Even if he did not completely succeed in making his behavior in the "Eppinger Case" understandable and comprehensible, the events gradually fell into oblivion, as evidenced by several recent posthumous statements of honor in German-speaking countries.
Subject(s)
National Socialism , Austria , Germany , History, 20th Century , HumansABSTRACT
Without a doubt, Frankfurt Pathologist Philipp Schwartz is one of the most iconic scholars in recent medical history. As the son of Jewish parents, he was forced to emigrate after Hitler seized power in 1933. Despite this repressive experience, he succeeded in founding the "Notgemeinschaft deutscher Wissenschaftler im Ausland" ("Emergency Association of German Scientists Abroad") in 1933, with which he helped hundreds of forcibly emigrated university teachers find academic positions. In addition, he had a decisive influence on the reform of the higher education system in Turkey, rendered outstanding achievements in neuropathology, and attained leading positions as a scientist in the exile countries Turkey and the USA.However, as successful as the pathologist's scientific career in exile may have been, his relationship with Germany remained problematic throughout his life. Against this background, this article focuses on the reception of Philipp Schwartz in the different political systems of Germany - from the Weimar Republic to the Third Reich, and from post-war Germany to the recent past in the Federal Republic. This study is essentially based on primary sources from the University Archive of Frankfurt.Schwartz had a promising career in the Weimar Republic. In the aftermath of Hitler's takeover (1933) he was deprived of any perspectives in Germany and fled to Switzerland in the spring of 1933. His achievements as a full professor in Istanbul and as initiator of the Notgemeinschaft are remarkable in both scientific and political regards. Still, he was denied employment at the Goethe University Frankfurt. Until well after his death (1977), Philipp Schwartz's life and work received little attention in Germany. It was only after the turn of the millennium that he received the recognition he was denied during his lifetime.
Subject(s)
National Socialism , Pathologists , Germany , History, 20th Century , HumansABSTRACT
The Hamburg pathologist Paul Kimmelstiel (1900-1970) gave his name to diabetic glomerulosclerosis (Kimmelstiel-Wilson syndrome) and thus conquered a place in the history of medicine. Far less known, however, is the fact that Kimmelstiel was one of the Jewish victims of the Third Reich. He was dismissed in 1933, saw himself forced to emigrate in 1934, and fought for "rehabilitation" ("Wiedergutmachung") after 1945.The present article focuses on Kimmelstiel's role as a politically persecuted and disenfranchised Jew.It examines (1) the background to his dismissal and forced emigration, (2) the question of "compensation" for his deprivation in postwar Germany, but also (3) the interactions between this racially motivated exclusion and biographical uprooting on one hand and the subsequent, highly remarkable international career development on the other.The study is based on previously unknown archival sources and on a reanalysis of the relevant research literature.This paper concludes that Kimmelstiel's emigration took place under traumatic circumstances. More astonishing is the fact that he quickly developed into a highly respected and famous exile scientist. However, the political and professional treatment of Kimmelstiel in post-war Germany was much less favorable. His efforts for rehabilitation were only partially successful, taking a long time and requiring considerable efforts. Only laying a Stolperstein monument in front of the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf in 2014 marked a provisional, conciliatory conclusion in dealing with the victim Paul Kimmelstiel.
