The cardiac catheterization procedure is a significant diagnostic and therapeutic method in cardiology. The beginning of "modern diagnostic" cardiac catheterization can be traced back to 1930, when Otto Klein conducted the first series of cardiac catheterizations to do directly calculate cardiac stroke volume. However, this work was forgotten for half a century. The following text deals with the causes of this form of historical memory loss. This article examines the legacy of Klein's cardiological research through an analysis of medical journals, academic records, personal correspondence, and contemporary newspaper reports. Drawing upon these sources, the study explores the significance of Klein's scientific contributions within the broader context of the institutional, linguistic, and socio-political conditions that shaped medical practice in German-speaking Prague during the 1920s and 1930s. The central argument is that, despite the methodological rigor and clinical relevance of Klein's work, his research garnered limited recognition within mainstream medical discourse. This relative obscurity is attributed not to scientific shortcomings but rather to structural marginalisation. As a German-speaking Jew in Prague, Klein's professional trajectory was increasingly constrained by the shifting political landscape and rising ethnic-nationalist tensions of the period. This is symbolised by the fictional ICD diagnoses that give the book its title, which succinctly express his double marginalisation as a Jew from 1939 to 1945 and as a German/German speaker from 1945 to 1947.
It has recently been discussed whether or not a Gall skull from the Berlin anatomical collection should be put on display in public exhibitions. As information about the history of this individual collection item is limited, we conducted provenance research using anthropological, museological, and historical methods. The aim of this research was to determine the provenance of this collection specimen as far as possible and to elucidate the local collection context as much as the wider context within the history of science. As far as could be determined without invasive procedures, the skull derives from a young woman, while the mandible is a later addition coming from a different, much older individual. The skull carries a collection number, which, in the context of nearby numbers of the same catalogue, indicates an entry into the collection around 1836. At the time, it was most likely included as a "historical teaching object'. The exact provenance remains unclear, but we could establish some plausible suggestions. The ethical considerations regarding the public display should weigh at least three aspects of a Gall skull: it can be at the same time mortal remains of a deceased individual, a material object, and a cultural object. We suggest that public display, if it imparts insights and conveys context, is acceptable.
For decades, Carl Gustav Carus has served as a figurehead for university medicine in Dresden. The Medical Academy, founded in 1954, was named after Carus, and in 1993, the name was passed on to the newly founded Medical Faculty and University Hospital. Both decisions were based on an image of Carus that had been widespread in Dresden since the 1930s, which was partly exaggerated and portrayed him primarily as a universal genius (natural scientist, physician, philosopher, and artist). Today, Carus is no longer uncontroversial as a namesake, as he developed a crude and abstruse racial theory and espoused it throughout his life as a researcher. In the GDR, this aspect was initially ignored and later strongly relativised. The GDR's historiography, which was geared towards legitimisation and the creation of traditions, did not contribute to an unbiased reception of Carus' work. During the period of political transformation after 1989/90, the narrative of Carus as an exclusively positive figure was adopted and perpetuated. Drawing on the concept of memory studies, our contribution analyses how and why Carus became increasingly idealised in the second half of the 20th century. The long-overdue critical and differentiated examination of Carus continues to have an impact to this day.
After the end of the Second World War, clinical research in the field of internal medicine's therapeutics had to return to peacetime development. In order to analyse this between 1946 and 1965, we searched two German medical journals criteria-based for therapeutic reports from internal medicine institutions in West and East Germany. We made a clear distinction between casuistic and group studies, and between controlled and uncontrolled studies. A total of 262 reports were found in the Klinische Wochenschrift and the & Auml;rztliche Wochenschrift. 53 percent of these were casuistic studies of various forms. Controlled studies accounted for 24 percent. No clear trends could be identified for the individual groups within the two decades. In 1932, Paul Martini published the first edition of his 'Methodenlehre der therapeutisch-klinischen Forschung' (Methodology of Therapeutic-Clinical Research). He developed, implemented and promoted a plan for individually controlled casuistic reports. Measured against this contemporary standard, the quality of the majority of all studies was and remained low in light of their textual presentation. The unexpected frequency of case reports prompted a more detailed quantitative and qualitative examination, including an assessment of their epistemic potential. Individually controlled studies with multiple cases have the potential to provide evidence for the efficacy of remedies.
The dentist Jenny Cohen had to flee Germany in 1933 due to racist persecution. After emigrating to the Netherlands, the Soviet Union and Sweden, she returned to the Soviet Occupation Zone/German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1947. She was active there as a health politician until 1966. In this article, we use (autobiographical) publications and files from the Swedish National Archives and the Federal Archives in Berlin to examine the tense relationship between Jenny Cohen's self-presentation and the way she was perceived by others in the context of different communities of remembrance. According to the findings, the narrative of a consistent socialist life course, which is largely characterized by her autobiographical sketch, and the public esteem in which she was held as a ,,Verdienter Arzt des Volkes" ('deserving doctor of the people') contrasts with the distrust of her emigration history, her character suitability and her abilities as a leader, which is evident in the files. The frame of reference of National Socialism is particularly powerful for the current memory of Cohen.
Little is known about the archival holdings of the German National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (Kassenarztliche Bundesvereinigung, KBV), which consist largely of documents from the former "Historisches Archiv der deutschen arzteschaft", held at the editorial office of the Deutsches arzteblatt in Cologne. In addition to the postwar records of the KBV up to 1970, these include documents from its predecessor organizations, Kassenarztliche Vereinigung Deutschlands (KVD) and Verband der arzte Deutschlands (Hartmannbund), dating from the late Weimar Republic and the Nazi era. Fragmentarily, they also contain records of the Reichsarztekammer and, to a lesser extent, personnel records of the Reichsgesundheitsverlag (formerly Verlag der deutschen arzteschaft), the Reichstuberkuloseausschuss, and the "Aktion Brandt". The post-war records include documents from the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Westdeutschen arztekammern (later: Bundesarztekammer), the Aktionsgemeinschaft der deutschenarzte, and the Deutscherarzte-Verlag. The article reconstructs the complex history of provenance and reception, provides an overview of the available material, and highlights its research potential. Additionally, an excursus discusses the Reichsarzteverzeichnis and the Reichsarztregister as key sources for studying the medical profession during the Nazi era.
During the nineteenth century, puberty was explained within the context of the neural understanding of the body, presenting puberty as a psychologically dangerous transition phase that could lead to serious mental illnesses. The neural concept of puberty contributed to the biologization of "gender characteristics", which were used, for instance, for excluding women from higher education. This paper sketches out the development from this psychological and neural understanding to a chemical model of puberty controlled by "puberty glands" (Steinach) around 1900. By the 1920s, this endocrinological model had become widely accepted in medical thought, but also posed new research questions. The endocrinological puberty model also took longer to enter the general public's understanding of puberty.
During the occupation after the end of the Second World War, an estimated 400,000 children of the occupation were born in Germany. They often grew up under difficult conditions and without their fathers. Between 2013 and 2019, the conditions under which they grew up and their current wellbeing were investigated in a psychological research programme with interdisciplinary links, which pursued a participatory approach and was accompanied by various public relations and outreach activities. The experiences, challenges and outcomes of the research programme for the target group are described and discussed in the article.
The initiative of the "Verschickungskinder" (children sent to `Kur' facilities) actively works to bring the suffering experienced during so called `Kuren' into public. The research project presented here, focused on the history of medical and recreational treatments for children in `Kur' facilities, was commissioned by organizations formerly involved. It sought to include the initiative and was committed to a multiperspective approach to the subject. Tensions between the initiative's and the scientific research's aims were balanced by sensitive and persistent communication.
