97th DOG Annual Meeting 1999
V292
THE TRAGIC END OF ASSIMILATION JEWISH OPHTHALMOLOGISTS IN BERLIN 1933-1940
P. Voswinckel
When the famous "Biographic Encyclopedia of Eminent Physicians" by Isidor Fischer was published in 1932/33, eighty-nine ophthalmologists of the German-speaking countries were among the Lexicon clientele (out of 7765 physicians world-wide) who were still living at the beginning of the "Third Reich" and working then as professor or senior physician. Out of them, 16 Non-Aryans (18%) became victims of racial persecution due to National Socialism. Deprived of subsistence, they were forced to emigrate or to suffer humiliation and isolation at home. The tragic end of assimilation is illustrated with examples of several persons concerned, Berlin specialists in ophthalmology. Further a biographic appreciation of their life and work is attempted, especially their living conditions and activities during emigration. At the same time the contribution is regarded as a presentation of a research project supported by the DFG which aims at producing a supplement volume of the "Encyclopedia of Eminent Physicians." By the completion of 4.400 biographies the supplement volume becomes an outstanding documentation of the ideiological and political breaks in thinking and acting of medicine and also of ophthalmology. A report is given on the present state and the problems of the Lexicon-research.
Medizinische Universität zu Lübeck, Institute for the History of Science and Medicine, Koenigstrasse 42, D-23552 Lubeck.
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