Citation

Prüll L. Pathologe 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Vernacular Title

Pathologie im Zeitalter der Gewalt : Mainz 1916 bis 1946.

Affiliation

Institut für Funktionelle und Klinische Anatomie, Johann-Joachim-Becher Weg 13, 55128, Mainz, Deutschland. pruell@uni-mainz.de.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00292-019-00701-x

PMID

31713661

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Based on recent historical research, the context of mentality plays an important role in understanding the history of medicine and pathology in Nazi Germany.

OBJECTIVES: What impact did the "Age of Violence" have on the work of pathology in Germany between 1914 and 1945? What does that mean for modern recent pathology? METHODS: Based on printed as well as archival material (City and University Archives, Mainz), the history of pathology in Mainz is presented as a case study.

RESULTS: Mainz, as a part of a borderland region, faced experiences of verbal and bodily violence, which moulded the work of pathologists in the German Empire extensively. These developments bolstered the collaboration of pathologists with the Nazi state.

CONCLUSIONS: Inquiries regarding medical ethics should not be restricted to the dispositions of actors and consequences for the suffering. In contrast, influences of mentality-driven contexts should be considered equally. The latter should be supportive to the maintenance of a democratic medicine.

Language: de

Keywords

History of medicine, twentieth century; History of pathology; Medicine in Mainz; Medicine in National Socialism; Medicine in the Weimar Republic