[Manfred Pflanz (1923-1980) - A key Protagonist for the Institutionalization of Social Medicine and Medical Sociology in Germany]. / Manfred Pflanz (1923­1980) ­ zentraler Akteur bei der Institutionalisierung von Sozialmedizin und Medizinsoziologie.

Manfred Pflanz, an internist with his focus on social medicine, medical sociology and epidemiology, (1923-1980) played a key role in the institutional integration of social science expertise into medicine in the Federal Republic of Germany during the 1960s and 70 s. The present study, a biographic sketch of Pflanz, describes his work, his programmatic ideas on social medicine and medical sociology, and his activities as an expert consultant in public health for various political entities. This should enable getting an insight into the origins and ramifications, as well as the contemporary programs and international embeddedness of the overlapping fields of social medicine and medical sociology in Germany.

Medicine during the Nazi period and the Holocaust: what are the implications? An interview with Volker Roelcke.

In this interview, Volker Roelcke explains and analyzes historical evidence refuting erroneous assumptions about medical atrocities committed by physicians during the Nazi era, provides insight into the implications of medicine during the Nazi period and the Holocaust for medicine and bioethics today, analyzes the history of the term "genocide," and suggests formats for future teaching, among other topics.

Medicine during the Nazi period and the Holocaust: what are the implications? An interview with Volker Roelcke / Medicina durante el período nazi y el Holocausto: ¿cuáles son las implicaciones? Una entrevista con Volker Roelcke

Abstract In this interview, Volker Roelcke explains and analyzes historical evidence refuting erroneous assumptions about medical atrocities committed by physicians during the Nazi era, provides insight into the implications of medicine during the Nazi period and the Holocaust for medicine and bioethics today, analyzes the history of the term "genocide," and suggests formats for future teaching, among other topics.

Resumen En esta entrevista, Volker Roelcke explica y analiza evidencia histórica que refuta las suposiciones erróneas acerca de las atrocidades cometidas por los médicos durante la era nazi, brinda información sobre las implicaciones de la medicina durante el período nazi y el Holocausto para la medicina y la bioética en la actualidad, analiza la historia del término "genocidio", y sugiere formatos para la enseñanza futura, entre otros temas.

The animal model of human disease as a core concept of medical research: Historical cases, failures, and some epistemological considerations.

This article uses four historical case studies to address epistemological issues related to the animal model of human diseases and its use in medical research on human diseases. The knowledge derived from animal models is widely assumed to be highly valid and predictive of reactions by human organisms. In this contribution, I use three significant historical cases of failure (ca. 1890, 1960, 2006), and a closer look at the emergence of the concept around 1860/70, to elucidate core assumptions related to the specific practices of animal-human knowledge transfer, and to analyze the explanations provided by historical actors after each of the failures. Based on these examples, I argue that the epistemological status of the animal model changed from that of a helpful methodological tool for addressing specific questions, but with precarious validity, to an obligatory method for the production of strong knowledge on human diseases. As a result, there now exists a culture of biomedical research in human disease that, for more than a century, has taken the value of this methodological tool as self-evident, and more or less beyond question.

[Biography, social context, and the body in an experimental system: evidence as result of an integrated methodology exemplified by the hypertension research of Thure von Uexküll]. / Biografie, sozialer Kontext und Körper im Experiment: Evidenz durch integrierte Methodik am Beispiel der Blutdruckforschung bei Thure von Uexküll.

The Wiesbaden congress of internal medicine in 1949 played host to a heated debate on issues of method, epistemology, and evidence in psychosomatic medicine. Paul Martini, specialist in internal medicine and protagonist of methodically conducted clinical trials, criticized the methodology of knowledge production in psychosomatic medicine and disputed the validity of its claims. Starting from this controversy, the contribution reconstructs the formation and implementation of an experimental system on the origins of hypertension in which Thure von Uexküll, specialist in internal medicine as well as in psychosomatics, aimed to integrate somatic variables as well as the subjectivity, the biography, and the social relations of the patient. In this experimental system, the interpretations of patients had a privileged status. For Uexküll, empirical evidence, traceability, and reproducibility were seen as basic criteria for relevant and valid knowledge-requirements formulated by Martini in 1949.

Eugenic concerns, scientific practices: international relations in the establishment of psychiatric genetics in Germany, Britain, the USA and Scandinavia, c.1910-60.

The article describes the emergence of research programmes, institutions and activities of the early protagonists in the field of psychiatric genetics: Ernst Rüdin in Munich, Eliot Slater in London, Franz Kallmann in New York and Erik Essen-Möller in Lund. During the 1930s and well into the Nazi period, the last three had been research fellows at the German Research Institute for Psychiatry in Munich. It is documented that there was a continuous mutual exchange of scientific ideas and practices between these actors, and that in all four contexts there were intrinsic relations between eugenic motivations and genetic research, but with specific national adaptations.

Participant observation and change of perspectives: medical anthropology and the encounter with socially marginalised groups. First experiences with a new teaching concept.

This paper examines the new teaching concept "Providing medical care on the fringe of society: Participant observation and change in perspectives" in the context of the interdisciplinary field of Querschnittsbereich 2/Q 2 (the transdisciplinary section under AOÄ, the German Regulations for licensed physicians) that explores the history, theory and ethics of medicine. The disciplinary approach usually adopted in Q 2 is supplemented with concepts from medical anthropology; in addition students will be exposed to people in extreme social situations. The aim is to make students aware of and invite them to reflect upon: the importance of participant observation in the specific on-site setting of medical thinking and acting; the importance of the subjectivity of all those involved in doctor/patient interaction; and the fact that key medical terms (such as the "need" as seen by the physician vs. the need as seen by the patient) are essentially context-dependent in their interpretation. At a more general level students will learn how to put themselves in the position of different protagonists in a range of medical settings, and practice the skill of reflecting critically upon putative conceptual/theoretical and normative-ethical assumptions in medicine.

The use of executed Nazi victims in anatomy: Findings from the Institute of Anatomy at Gießen University, pre- and post-1945.

There is increasing evidence that both during the time of National Socialism, and in the post-World War II-period, the corpses of executed victims of the Nazi regime, as well as body parts taken from them were used for teaching and research purposes in German anatomical institutes. The paper addresses the related issues by looking at the case of the Institute of Anatomy at Gießen University whose director, Ferdinand Wagenseil, is documented to have had certain political reservations towards the Nazi regime, but at the same time used the situation to get access to more corpses, most likely for teaching purposes. On a second level, new archival sources are used to explore to what extend corpses and body parts of Nazi victims were used in the post-WW II period. One central aim in this context is the reconstruction of the identities of these victims for the purpose of acknowledgment of the atrocities committed to them, appropriate remembrance, and to possibly enable the respectful burial of the remaining body parts. Further, the case raises the question how anatomists during and after the Nazi period justified for themselves the use of corpses from executed political prisoners, and what might be potential explanations for their reasoning. The historical evidence documents an attitude and value hierarchy which is aware of the disregard of dignity or human rights in the case of the Nazi victims, but which perceives this disregard as of minor relevance compared to the needs of medical teaching, or medical research. It is argued that this mental attitude is not specific for the Nazi period, but that it has been brought to an extreme manifestation in this specific context.

[In search of politics in knowledge production. A plea for a historical-political epistemology]. / Auf der Suche nach der Politik in der Wissensproduktion: Plädoyer für eine historisch-politische Epistemologie.

Knowledge production has an intrinsic political dimension. Starting from this presupposition, it is argued that the systematic integration of and reflection on the political dimension is necessary for an adequate understanding of historical processes of knowledge production in the sciences. The consecutive plea for a historical-political epistemology proceeds in two steps: First, it is illustrated that in a number of recent historical science study cases, the political dimension is frequently marginal, or even absent. After a short discussion of previous theoretical concepts to describe the impact of politics for the production of scientific knowledge, an approach is sketched which builds on Hans-Jörg Rheinberger's historical epistemology and Bruno Latour's symmetrical anthropology. It is argued that in addition to Rheinberger's program to describe epistemic systems, the political dimension is intrinsic to three stages of the process of data production: First to an initial phase which consists in the arrangement socio-technical configurations to produce new evidence. Here, factors such as the culturally shaped perception and evaluation of "relevant" problems, as well as the perception of career resources have to be taken into account. Second, the political dimension is relevant in view of the continuous re-adjustments of the configuration of epistemic systems, e.g., towards newly available financial, technical, or intellectual resources and "relevant" challenges from outside the system. Thirdly, the data produced and represented by epistemic systems--"evidence"--are yet in need of interpretation. This process is in itself imbued with continuously shifting mechanisms of selecting and creating hierarchies amongst the pool of available data.