Citation

Kaiser S, Sziranyi J, Wilhelmy S, Groß D. Pathologe 2019; 40(Suppl 3): 282-287.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00292-019-00713-7

PMID

31732767

Abstract

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.

Language: de

Keywords

History, 20th Century; Humans; Cross-Sectional Studies; Germany; Holocaust; National Socialism; Emigration and immigration; Pathologists; Concentration camps; World War II