Carl Arthur Scheunert

Carl Arthur Scheunert (born June 7, 1879 in Dresden , † January 12, 1957 in Basel ) was a German veterinarian specializing in physiology. He worked as a professor at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Dresden , at the Agricultural University in Berlin and at the University of Leipzig . In addition, he was the first president of the Reich Institute for Vitamin Testing and Vitamin Research and, from 1951, director of the Institute for Nutrition and Food Science in Potsdam-Rehbrücke . He is regarded as an essential representative of vitamin research in Germany and, alongside Kurt Täufel, as the nestor of nutritional research in the GDR .

Life

Career

Arthur Scheunert was born in Dresden in 1879 and also studied chemistry there . He joined the Corps Gothia during his studies and later became an old man in the Corps Altsachsen Dresden . He also studied in Leipzig and Basel , and received his doctorate in 1902 at the University of Göttingen , where he then worked as a research assistant. He later moved to the Dresden University of Veterinary Medicine , where he was appointed full professor in 1910 . Scheunert succeeded in 1913, together with Adolf Schattke, as the first scientist to depict the gastric mechanics of animals. In 1920 he received a professorship for animal physiology at the Agricultural University in Berlin , from 1923 to 1945 at the University of Leipzig , where he was professor for veterinary physiology .

From 1923 he was a member of the Reich Committee for Nutritional Research. From the start, in his new position, he mainly focused on vitamin and nutritional research. Arthur Scheunert was editor of the magazine Die Tierernahrung , together with Wilhelm Stepp he edited the periodical Vitamins und Hormone, the leading German magazine in this research area. A first summarizing work on his nutritional research appeared in 1930 in the series of publications The People's Nutrition under the title Vitamin content of German food in two parts. In 1938 he wrote a vitamin balance for Germany. Throughout his life he was committed to promoting a diet rich in vitamins, for the purpose of which he u. a. advocated the vitaminization of margarine and the administration of vitamin products.

In National Socialism

Scheunert knew how to use the political situation to realize his research interests. Against the background of the interest of the National Socialists in a "wholesome" healthy diet, he repeatedly approached the National Socialist State and the Reich Health Management in order to establish a scientific institution to promote vitamin research. With massive support from Reichsärzteführer Leonardo Conti , he finally succeeded in establishing the Reich Institute for Vitamin Testing and Vitamin Research in Leipzig in 1941 , which was placed under his leadership. Arthur Scheunert was one of the leading nutritionists during the National Socialist era , and his studies, which were primarily based on experiments on rats and guinea pigs, but also on prison inmates, were financed by the Research Service , the German Research Foundation, the Ministry of Food, the Ministry of Economics and the Ministry of War. They gained strategic importance with the 1936 four-year plan . As a member of the rationing commission, he was involved in drawing up the war food plans. In this context, the National Socialist regime sponsored his research extremely generously.

After the National Socialist seizure of power, Arthur Scheunert prematurely announced his resignation from the student council of the University of Leipzig in 1933, as he had already joined the National Socialist teachers' association at that time . In November 1933 he signed the German professors' confession of Adolf Hitler . Over the years he also became a member of the Nazi Association of German Technology and the NS-Altherrenbund . He was accepted into the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) on April 1, 1941.

In this context, under Scheunert's direction, feeding tests were also carried out on inmates of the Waldheim prison . In connection with these experiments, a vitamin deficiency was brought about by a one-sided diet in order to first examine the consequences and then to determine the minimum of vitamins necessary to remedy the deficiency. The later GDR minister and political prisoner in Waldheim, Fritz Selbmann , reported that the human experiments initiated by Scheunert had also resulted in deaths. Research in relevant archives in 2012 could not confirm these statements. Scheunert was also involved in the attempts at the Dachau concentration camp to cultivate and use the vitamin-rich gladioli , which should ultimately serve to promote the performance of the German population. Arthur Scheunert was the driving force behind the vitaminization of margarine, which began in 1941 and was set in motion by his Leipzig colleague Karl Heinz Wagner with the help of vitamin concentrates from fish and whale livers that were available after the occupation of Norway . He was centrally involved in the vitamin campaigns that began in 1940, promoted the Reich Wholemeal Bread Committee and maintained excellent contacts with the party and the Army High Command , namely Wilhelm Ziegelmayer .

After 1945

Grave in the old Annenfriedhof in Dresden

After Leipzig was captured by the US Army in April 1945, Scheunert was arrested and interned in Weilburg . On May 7, 1945, he officially left the University of Leipzig. He then held a professorship for animal nutrition between 1946 and 1948 and was acting head of the Institute for Veterinary Physiology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Giessen . In 1948 he followed the call to the newly emerging Institute for Nutrition and Catering Science in Potsdam-Rehbrücke , which he took over in 1951. He taught physiology for veterinarians and was an expert. Scheunert published a large number of articles and books on questions of physiology and nutritional research, at times published the journal Diet , Vitamins and Hormones and later the journal Nutritional Research . In the times of the GDR he enjoyed great academic recognition. Scheunert knew how to adapt to the circumstances of the political regime and to mobilize research resources for himself and his employees. The Institute for Nutrition in Potsdam-Rehbrücke, which he was instrumental in conceiving and which still exists today, was generously designed and equipped. It enjoyed great popularity in the GDR, also among the population. Despite the knowledge of the government and colleagues about the problematic human experiments, these were never discussed and concealed in early biographies. Thanks to Scheunert's initiative, the Institute for Nutrition was accepted as the Central Institute for Nutrition in the Academy of Sciences of the GDR in 1957; as such, it was positively evaluated after reunification and accepted into the Leibniz Association as the German Institute for Nutritional Research . Scheunert died in Basel in 1957. His grave is in the old Annenfriedhof in Dresden.

Awards

Arthur Scheunert was made a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 1926 , a full member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences in 1934 , a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture in 1942 and a full member of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin in 1953 . Several universities awarded him honorary doctorates . In 1936 he was accepted into the Biochemical Society in London , as a member of which he was involved in the development of the nomenclature of the "International Units" for vitamins. On June 7, 1944, on the occasion of his 65th birthday, he was awarded the Goethe Medal for Art and Science for his life's work. In 1951 he received the GDR's first class national prize in the field of science, endowed with 100,000 marks , and three years later he was given the honorary title of Outstanding People's Scientist .

Works (selection)

• Textbook of the comparative physiology of domestic mammals. Berlin 1910, 1920, 1925 (as co-editor)
• Instructions for the microscopic and chemical diagnosis of diseases in domestic animals. Hanover 1918 (as co-author)
• Veterinary Physiology Textbook. Berlin 1939, 1951, 1957, 1965, 1976, 1987
• Basics of feeding theory. Berlin and Hamburg 1952, 1959 (as co-editor of the 11th and 12th editions)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ulrich Wangemann: Study: Rehbrückes famous nutrition researcher is said to have abused inmates of the Waldheim prison for research purposes in the Third Reich. In: Märkische Allgemeine . Edition February 29, 2012
2. ↑ Hagen Ludwig: Named border crossings. Arthur Scheunert's experiments on prisoners and its role during the Nazi era in the discussion In: Potsdamer Latest News . Edition of November 17, 2012, p. 18

literature

• Arthur Scheunert, Ernst Mangold : Festschrift for the 75th birthday of Professor Dr. Dr. Dr. hc Dr. hc Dr. hc Arthur Scheunert. Series: Archives for Animal Nutrition. Volume 5. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1954
• Heinrich-Karl Gräfe: Carl-Arthur Scheunert - researcher, work, man. German Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Berlin, Berlin 1954 (hagiographical and with many deliberate omissions about the Nazi era, but with a compilation of Scheunert's publications)
• Ekkehard Höxtermann:  Scheunert, Carl Arthur. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , p. 714 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Roland Thimme : Carl Arthur Scheunert. A scientist in the National Socialist and in the real socialist system of rule . In: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft , 59 vol. (2012), pp. 5–27.
• Ulrike Thoms: Break-in, departure, breakthrough? Structures and networks of German nutrition research before and after 1945 . In: Rüdiger vom Bruch and Uta Gerhardt (eds.): Continuities and discontinuities in the history of science, Stuttgart 2006, pp. 111–130.
• Ulrike Thoms: “Vitamin questions - no vitamin frenzy?” German vitamin research in the first half of the 20th century and its relationship to the public . In: Sybilla Nikolow and Arne Schirrmacher (eds.): Science and the public as a resource for one another, Bielefeld 2007, pp. 75–96.
• Scheuner, Arthur . In: Werner Hartkopf:The Berlin Academy of Sciences. Its members and award winners 1700–1990. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1992,ISBN 3-05-002153-5, p. 316.
• Hagen Ludwig: named border crossings. Arthur Scheunert's experiments on prisoners and its role during the Nazi era in the discussion In: Potsdamer Latest News . Edition of November 17, 2012, p. 18

Web links

• Literature by and about Carl Arthur Scheunert in the catalog of the German National Library
• Carl Arthur Scheunert in the professorial catalog of the University of Leipzig