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"History had taken such a large piece out of my life" - Neuroscientist refugees from Hamburg during National Socialism.
J Hist Neurosci. 2016 Jul-Sep; 25(3):275-98.JH

Abstract

Approximately 9,000 physicians were uprooted for so-called "racial" or "political" reasons by the Nazi regime and 6,000 fled Germany. These refugees are often seen as survivors who contributed to a "brain drain" from Germany. About 432 doctors (all specialties, private and academic) were dismissed from the major German city of Hamburg. Of these, 16 were Hamburg University faculty members dismissed from their government-supported positions for "racial" reasons, and, of these, five were neuroscientists. In a critical analysis, not comprehensively done previously, we will demonstrate that the brain drain did not equal a "brain gain." The annihilation of these five neuroscientists' careers under different but similar auspices, their shameful harassment and incarceration, financial expropriation by Nazi ransom techniques, forced migration, and roadblocks once reaching destination countries stalled and set back any hopes of research and quickly continuing once-promising careers. A major continuing challenge is finding ways to repair an open wound and obvious vacuum in the German neuroscience community created by the largely collective persecution of colleagues 80 years ago.

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Publisher Full Text (DOI)

Authors+Show Affiliations

Zeidman LA
a Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation , University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine , Chicago , IL , USA.
von Villiez A
b Department of History , University of Hamburg , Hamburg , Germany.
Stellmann JP
c Institute of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis and Department of Neurology , University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf , Hamburg , Germany.
van den Bussche H
c Institute of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis and Department of Neurology , University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf , Hamburg , Germany. d Institute of Primary Medical Care, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf , Hamburg , Germany.

MeSH

EugenicsGermanyHistory, 20th CenturyIntellectual PropertyJewsNational SocialismNeurosciencesPhysiciansRacismRefugeesUnited States

Pub Type(s)

Biography
Historical Article
Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

26863588

Citation

Zeidman, Lawrence A., et al. ""History Had Taken Such a Large Piece Out of My Life" - Neuroscientist Refugees From Hamburg During National Socialism." Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, vol. 25, no. 3, 2016, pp. 275-98.
Zeidman LA, von Villiez A, Stellmann JP, et al. "History had taken such a large piece out of my life" - Neuroscientist refugees from Hamburg during National Socialism. J Hist Neurosci. 2016;25(3):275-98.
Zeidman, L. A., von Villiez, A., Stellmann, J. P., & van den Bussche, H. (2016). "History had taken such a large piece out of my life" - Neuroscientist refugees from Hamburg during National Socialism. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 25(3), 275-98. https://doi.org/10.1080/0964704X.2015.1121696
Zeidman LA, et al. "History Had Taken Such a Large Piece Out of My Life" - Neuroscientist Refugees From Hamburg During National Socialism. J Hist Neurosci. 2016 Jul-Sep;25(3):275-98. PubMed PMID: 26863588.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - "History had taken such a large piece out of my life" - Neuroscientist refugees from Hamburg during National Socialism. AU - Zeidman,Lawrence A, AU - von Villiez,Anna, AU - Stellmann,Jan-Patrick, AU - van den Bussche,Hendrik, Y1 - 2016/02/10/ PY - 2016/2/11/entrez PY - 2016/2/11/pubmed PY - 2017/3/10/medline KW - Friedrich Wohlwill KW - Hamburg KW - Hermann Josephy KW - National Socialism KW - Richard Loewenberg KW - Victor Kafka KW - Walter Kirschbaum KW - neurology KW - neuroscience KW - psychiatry KW - refugees SP - 275 EP - 98 JF - Journal of the history of the neurosciences JO - J Hist Neurosci VL - 25 IS - 3 N2 - Approximately 9,000 physicians were uprooted for so-called "racial" or "political" reasons by the Nazi regime and 6,000 fled Germany. These refugees are often seen as survivors who contributed to a "brain drain" from Germany. About 432 doctors (all specialties, private and academic) were dismissed from the major German city of Hamburg. Of these, 16 were Hamburg University faculty members dismissed from their government-supported positions for "racial" reasons, and, of these, five were neuroscientists. In a critical analysis, not comprehensively done previously, we will demonstrate that the brain drain did not equal a "brain gain." The annihilation of these five neuroscientists' careers under different but similar auspices, their shameful harassment and incarceration, financial expropriation by Nazi ransom techniques, forced migration, and roadblocks once reaching destination countries stalled and set back any hopes of research and quickly continuing once-promising careers. A major continuing challenge is finding ways to repair an open wound and obvious vacuum in the German neuroscience community created by the largely collective persecution of colleagues 80 years ago. SN - 1744-5213 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/26863588/"History_had_taken_such_a_large_piece_out_of_my_life"___Neuroscientist_refugees_from_Hamburg_during_National_Socialism_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -