Closed venereology wards in postwar Hamburg.

BACKGROUND: A number of research results on closed venereology facilities in the Soviet Occupation Zone (SOZ) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) have been presented in recent years. However, little is known about similar facilities in the Western Occupation Zones (WOZ) and in the early Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). METHOD: We have researched the records of the State Archive in Hamburg. Subsequently, the analysed sources were evaluated using the historically critical method. RESULTS: Three closed venereology wards existed in Hamburg. Compulsory commitments were conducted according to a three-stage procedure. In the immediate postwar period, the wards had barred windows and the doors were locked. Everyday life in the wards was initially determined by the postwar situation - poor facilities, poor hygiene, overcrowding. In the early 1950s, the number of beds was drastically reduced. The function of the wards consisted of isolation and medical care for the compulsorily committed persons. Medical care was in accordance with professional medical standards. DISCUSSION: Closed venereology wards in Hamburg followed the tradition established during the period of the Weimar Republic. This becomes apparent both in terms of the legal framework and in terms of the structure and functions of the wards. Thus, they clearly differ from the closed venereology facilities in the SOZ and in the GDR. These facilities were established in the tradition of Soviet prophylactics institutions. The wards in Hamburg served as isolation and treatment centres, the facilities in the SOZ and in the GDR also had a disciplinary function.

[The dermatologist Edmund Lesser (1852-1918) : Teaching and learning in Leipzig]. / Der Dermatologe Edmund Lesser (1852­1918) : Lehren und Lernen in Leipzig.

Edmund Lesser was one of the most influential German dermatologists of his time. After the death of his academic teacher Oscar Simon in Breslau, the later director of the dermatology hospital at the Charité moved to Leipzig in 1882. At the University of Leipzig he quickly completed his habilitation in June of the same year and continued the course for dermatology and venereology started by Neisser. Later he also went into private practice, where he recruited patients for his lectures. In Leipzig Lesser also published his well-received handbook on skin diseases and venereology and organized the third meeting of the German Society of Dermatology in 1891. Despite his hope and his undisputable achievements, he was not granted professorship by the faculty of medicine in Leipzig. For this he had to become head of dermatology at the University of Bern in 1892. This manuscript deals with his ten important years in Leipzig as a prerequisite for his later merits in Berlin as well as the development of academic dermatology at the University of Leipzig.