Carl Heinrich Stratz

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Carl Heinrich Stratz, contemporary pencil drawing

Carl Heinrich Stratz (born June 14, 1858 in Odessa , Russian Empire , † April 21, 1924 in The Hague , Netherlands ) was a German gynecologist who published several scientific and popular science books on medical and anthropological topics. His most famous works deal with criteria for assessing and promoting female beauty. In pediatric and adolescent medicine, he made valuable contributions to the morphology of the healthy body.

Life

Stratz was the son of the wealthy wholesale merchant Heinrich Stratz from Odessa . The family originally came from Wildgutach in the Black Forest, the grandfather Sebastian had immigrated to Russia under Catherine II . His brother Rudolph was a well-known writer. Born as a Russian citizen, after the introduction of general conscription (Opoltschenije) in Russia on January 13, 1874, with the help of Grand Duchess Luise von Baden in 1876, the family succeeded in dismissing them from Russian subjects and admitting them to the Grand Duchy of Baden .

In 1877 Stratz began his medical studies at the University of Heidelberg , where he spent the winter semesters 1877/78 and 1878/79 and the summer semester 1879. In the winter semester of 1879/80 he continued his studies in Freiburg and from 1881 to 1882 in Leipzig. On August 2, 1883, he was in Heidelberg with the review "cum laude" for Dr. med. PhD . From 1883 to 1886 he was an assistant doctor under Karl Schroeder at the “Clinical Institute for Obstetrics” at the Charité in Berlin.

In 1887, he traveled with his brother Rudolph Equatorial Africa and then in the same year Medical Officer (Officier van gezondheid) of the Royal Dutch Indian Army (Royal Netherlands East Indies Army) , where he was a gynecologist on Java was used and the pathological institute Batavia researched . In 1890 he toured the interior of the island. In 1892 he finished his work as a military doctor and published his research results. Study visits to America, China and Japan ended in 1898. In 1902 he became a member of the Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory . A note from 1904 in the communications on the history of medicine and the natural sciences mentions that Stratz "except South America, South Africa and Australia traveled all over the world with open eyes". In 1908 Stratz returned to Europe and settled in The Hague , where he ran an extensive obstetric and gynecological practice in Daendelstraat. He lost his German citizenship because of more than 10 years of uninterrupted residence abroad. He later acquired it again.

The circumstances under which Stratz was awarded a Prussian professor title by imperial decree in 1914 are unclear. Stratz's medical activities during the First World War are not exactly known. He himself mentioned "wounded Russians" who came for his treatment; in addition, his profession has taken him "to the most diverse areas of Europe". His brother Rudolph writes in his autobiography that for years he had been at the head of a military hospital in France, Courland and Macedonia and again in France. In 1918 he was active as an operator in the German army in the 1918 German spring offensive . He reports - probably the first - of the devastating effects of the dum-dum projectiles used by the British Army . In 1919 he lived again in The Hague. In 1923 Stratz fell ill with a "pelvic abscess" and was unable to leave his sick bed from autumn onwards. He died on April 21 of the following year.

plant

overview

Stratz's works were, after the frequent positive book reviews and the large number of editions, extremely successful. Reviews and excerpts from his books in conventional medicine and life reform magazines indicate that Stratz's medical and aesthetic expertise has been recognized by both medical professionals and medical critical life reformers as well as art historians and artists. Until 1913 alone, the book The Beauty of the Female Body was published in 22 editions, in 1941 in the 45th edition, it can be found in almost every museum or art library.

The publications on the proportions of the child's and adolescent's body, which Stratz had cited for decades, had the greatest aftereffect; In this regard, Hans Grimm describes him as a “co-founder of a medical youth studies”.

Stratz's publications on human beauty, especially the beauty of the female body , are richly illustrated. The photographs, often nude photos of young women, are of various origins. Photographers are only partially named; Some of the photos are nude photographs from the private holdings of Stratz's collecting colleagues and friends.

  • "Peasant women from Champéry in pants", from The women's clothing ...

  • "Intimate Summer Déshabillé", from The Body Shapes in Art and Life of the Japanese

  • 14-year-old American of Swiss descent from The Racial Beauty of Woman

  • 15-year-old girl, example of the appearance of the "normal fried fish ", from The Child's Body ...

Major works

The women on Java - a gynecological study , Verlag F. Enke (Stuttgart), 1897

This book summarizes Stratz's experience during a little over five years as a gynecologist on Java. Based on self-treated cases, Stratz described gynecological diseases and obstetrics in European and domestic patients.

The beauty of the female body , 1st edition, Verlag F. Enke (Stuttgart), 1898

This title, "dedicated to mothers, doctors and artists", was received consistently positively by the press and was extremely successful with 46 editions up to 1941. After an overview of the concept of beauty in general, in art and literature as well as the canon , the work goes into detail on the influence of factors such as development, age, diseases and clothing on beauty. In the following part, criteria for assessing the female body in general, different body parts and movement are established. The book ends with “Regulations for the Preservation and Promotion of Female Beauty”. Stratz himself explained about this work:
“I have tried a new way of assessing human beauty by taking the position of the artist and the anatomist as well as that of the doctor, making my observations as much as possible on the living body instead of pictures and corpses, and these on and for itself as the main thing, and not just as an object of artistic representation ”.
The 13th edition (1902) of the work was supplemented by a few photos of Italian models that were specially made for this work by Wilhelm Plüschow . The later editions contain over 300 illustrations.

Women's clothing and its natural development , 1st edition. Verlag F. Enke (Stuttgart), 1900

In this work, Stratz gave an overview of women's clothing in different cultures. It deals with nudity, body adornments, cultural influences, general clothing in its "primitive", "tropical" and "arctic" variants as well as European and non-European women's clothing. The volume closes with a chapter on the influence of clothing on the body - especially corsets - and with suggestions for improving women's clothing at the time.

The racial beauty of women , 1st edition. Verlag F. Enke (Stuttgart), 1901

Such a title, which describes the physique of women of different “ races ”, was announced by Stratz in one of the first editions of The Beauty of the Female Body , after the topic could no longer be dealt with in a separate chapter. In the foreword to the last 21st edition, published in 1940 - the book title was retained - Hans Weinert explained that a few changes to the work were necessary because the understanding of race had fundamentally changed in recent times.

The body shapes in art and life of the Japanese , 1st edition. Verlag F. Enke (Stuttgart), 1902

In this work, Stratz went into the Japanese peculiarities of body shape as well as the concept of beauty and the representation of the naked body in Japanese art. Some of the photographs for this volume were made by Stratz himself.

The child's body and its care , 1st edition Verlag F. Enke (Stuttgart), 1903

Stratz specifically dedicated this volume "for parents, educators, doctors and artists" to the healthy child. With regard to the structure of the child's body, "just as little as with women ... has so far been attempted to illuminate the child's faults and advantages from an objective-scientific point of view." (Preface by the author). The first, general part deals with the child in art and growth and development, while the special part deals with the individual age groups in detail and - in the later editions - concludes with advice on nutrition, clothing, personal hygiene and education.

What are Jews? An ethnographic-anthropological study , Verlag F. Tempsky (Vienna) and Verlag G. Freytag (Leipzig), 1903

Age and gender , Verlag F. Enke (Stuttgart), 1926

Stratz completed the manuscript for this volume in 1924. The first part, "The Age", describes the changes in body size, proportions and organs in the course of human life. The second part, “The sexes”, deals with the primary and secondary sexual characteristics of both sexes as well as the qualitative and quantitative differences in metabolism and other life processes.

Stratz's concept of beauty

A page from The Beauty of the Female Body with Canon

Stratz believed that beauty was the consequence of scientific and supernatural laws. For him, beauty presupposes a “normal” (ie, healthy) body, but this only applies to a small part of the population. A well-proportioned body can be traced back to the canon, which only obeys formal rules. The goal was to establish timeless criteria that met the demands of perfect beauty.

Stratz considered feminine beauty to be an expression of her calling to be a mother. Like other doctors - Albert Moll , for example - he believed that women who did paid work instead would look more masculine. As an antidote, he suggested a dietary doctrine called callobiotics , which aimed at health and beauty. For Stratz, human life consisted of an “individual life” and a “species life”. For women, because of their role as mother, the life of the species would play a greater role than the individual life, while it is the other way around for men. This difference would be felt in the male and female anatomy.

Stratz on the Jews

In his 1903 book What are Jews? he wrote that modern anti-Semites generally characterize the Jewish people by a number of physical defects. He did not share this view. Rather, Jews would have laid the foundation for Western civilization and would share Caucasian and Aryan origins with the Nordic and Romance races. Centuries of inbreeding would have produced defects and ailments such as deformity, gout, diabetes and rheumatism among the European Jews - in contrast to other Europeans or North African Jews. He went on to say that one sees many more sick and ugly Jews than idiot Jews. Intelligence would be a result of the Jews' struggle for survival, and Jews could contribute to the future of European culture and society.

See also

literature

  • Entry in Isidor Fischer (ed.): Biographical lexicon of the outstanding doctors of the last fifty years. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Vienna 1962, p. 1525.
  • Hans Grimm: Carl Heinrich Stratz (1858 to 1924) as co-founder of a medical youth studies. In: Medical youth studies. Vol. 70, No. 3, June 1979, ISSN  0001-9518 , pp. 177-192.
  • Michael Hau: The Holistic Gaze in German Medicine, 1890–1930. In: Bulletin of the History of Medicine. Vol. 74, No. 3, 2000, ISSN  0007-5140 , pp. 495-524.
  • Michael Hau: Physical education and social habitus. Social meanings of physicality during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. In: Rüdiger vom Bruch , Brigitte Kaderas (Hrsg.): Sciences and science policy. Inventories of formations, breaks and continuities in Germany in the 20th century. Steiner, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-515-08111-9 , pp. 109-124.
  • Michael Hau: The Cult of Health and Beauty in Germany. A social history, 1890-1930. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago IL et al. 2003, ISBN 0-226-31974-1 .

Web links

Commons : Carl Heinrich Stratz  - p
Wikisource: Carl Heinrich Stratz  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ In: Ärztliche Jugendkunde. Vol. 70, No. 3, June 1979, ISSN  0001-9518 , pp. 177-192.
  2. ^ Biography of Rudolf Stratz on LeoBW
  3. ^ Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, Volume 19. Leipzig 1909, p. 108
  4. ↑ Rudolph Stratz: Sword and pen: memories from young years, Berlin , A. Scherl, 1925, pp. 23–24
  5. ↑ CH Stratz: Gynäcologische Anatomie , Vol. 1 Circulation disorders and inflammation of the ovaries and tubes , Berlin, Fischer 1892 and Vol. 2. The tumors of the ovaries , Berlin, Fischer, 1894
  6. ↑ a b Rudolf Stratz: Travel and Tire, the second part of life memories , Berlin, A. Scherl, 1926, p. 188
  7. ^ CH Stratz: English square bullets RA 16. VII from the great offensive of March 21, 1918 , Stuttgart, Enke 1918.
  8. ^ Hans Grimm: Carl Heinrich Stratz (1858 to 1924) as co-founder of a medical youth studies. P. 190
  9. ^ Hau: The Holistic Gaze in German Medicine . P. 503
personal data
SURNAME Stratz, Carl Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stratz, Karl Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION gynecologist
DATE OF BIRTH June 14, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH Odessa
DATE OF DEATH April 21, 1924
Place of death The hague