Fritz Goebel (pediatrician)

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Fritz Goebel (born June 3, 1888 in Bielefeld , † September 1, 1950 in Munich ) was a German pediatrician and university professor who was, among other things, rector of the Düsseldorf Medical Academy from 1945 to 1947 . In his work he dealt in particular with metabolic and nutritional disorders and described the Goebel measles phenomenon named after him as part of his diagnosis of infectious diseases . He made particular contributions to the introduction of streptomycin therapy for tuberculosis .

origin

His parents were Karl Göbel (1853-1937) - doctor of philosophy and high school teacher and from 1889 to 1911 employee of the Freudenberg leather factory - and his wife Emilie Freudenberg (1853-1935), a daughter of the leather manufacturer Carl Johann Freudenberg (1819-1898). His grandfather was Maximilian Goebel (1811-1857), a professor of Protestant theology at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn held and as editor of the Bonner transcripts for the Protestant church the Rhineland and Westphalia historically valuable studies for research into pietism made . His father's cousins ​​were the professors of theology Siegfried Goebel (1844–1928) and Hermann von der Goltz († 1906).

Life

Studied and worked in Jena and Halle

After graduating from high school , Goebel studied medicine at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg as well as the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich and after completing his license to practice medicine and doctorate he took up a Dr. med. In 1913 he worked as an assistant doctor at the Gisela Children's Hospital in Munich . Just one year later, he was called up for military service at the beginning of the First World War in 1914 and served in the army until 1919 .

After the war ended, he became a doctor at the Jena University Children's Clinic in 1919 , where he completed his habilitation under Jussuf Ibrahim in 1922 and became an associate professor in 1924 .

In 1925 Goebel moved to the University Children's Clinic in Halle as a professor of paediatrics and worked there until 1937. For his services in paediatrics, he became a member of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina in 1928 .

Professorship in Düsseldorf and the National Socialist period

During the time of National Socialism Goebel was secretary of the German Society for Pediatrics DGfK. The German Society for Paediatrics had joined the Reich Health Center on the decision of chairman Karl Stolte and his secretary Fritz Goebel and also introduced new statutes in 1934 that allowed the Nazi state to control and regulate.

After finishing his work in Halle in 1937 he succeeded Adalbert Czerny as professor of pediatrics at the Medical Academy in Düsseldorf , where he worked until his death. In addition, between 1938 and 1950 he was also the medical director of the municipal hospitals in Düsseldorf .

As early as 1932, Goebel had ticked the names of members on the membership list whom he believed to be Jewish. The pressure on Jewish members led to withdrawals from society. In January 1936, in his function as secretary of the DGfK, he wrote to its chairman Hans Rietschel : “As expected, a number of non-Aryan resignations have taken place and I believe that we will soon be purely Aryan. I find this way of voluntary self-resignations much happier than if we had exerted any pressure. ”In 1938 the license to practice medicine was revoked for good from the remaining Jewish doctors in Germany. The last 57 names of Jewish members are then deleted by the secretary. The German Society for Pediatrics was "Jew-free".

In October 1938 he wrote at the request of Rietschel all "German Reich" members of DGfK and calling on it that the Jewish publisher Samuel Karger founded on April 1, 1890 Publisher S. Karger published Yearbook of Pediatrics unsubscribe and submit any more. Previously, the attempt to transfer the yearbook into Aryan Reich German hands had failed due to the resistance of the publisher, which had been based in Switzerland since 1937 , citing existing contracts.

In a conversation with the deputy head of the Reich Health Office Fritz Rott , Goebel agreed in February 1939 that Goebel should convince the respected doctor and editor of the yearbook for paediatrics, Ernst Freudenberg , in a direct conversation, to stop his collaboration for the yearbook, because she "Is likely to damage national German interests".

Rector of the Medical Academy Düsseldorf

After the end of the Second World War , he also succeeded Hans Theodor Schreus as Rector of the Medical Academy in Düsseldorf in 1945 and held this position until he was replaced by Erich Boden in 1947.

As such, he offered Albert Eckstein , who was discriminated against as a Jew there in 1935 due to the Nuremberg Laws and was dismissed under "extremely shameful circumstances", a chair, which he refused. In a letter to Eckstein, Goebel stated:

“It is finally possible for me to get in touch with you through the military government. I give you the following resolution, which was passed in September 1945 at the Rectors' Conference of the Universities of the British Zone. According to this resolution, universities and colleges consider it their honorary duty to rehabilitate university teachers who have had to leave their posts for racial reasons. They will be included in the forthcoming personnel registers, and this Rectors' Conference also agreed that, in all appropriate cases, the restoration of their character as a German university professor, and, in the case of academic applicability, their use in their previous office, if this is occupied, in another equivalent, in the event of reduced academic usability, their appropriate provision, in particular your retirement, must be granted. If necessary, the persons concerned should keep their previous positions open. The same resolution was emphasized at the university conference in Goslar from February 25-27, 1946, and the greatest importance was attached to implementation. Since your Düsseldorf chair has been properly filled by me, I have written to all medical faculties in Germany that you and your person should be considered first and foremost "

The background for Eckstein's rejection was not only the role Goebels played during the Nazi era, but certainly also the fact that he described his own occupation at Eckstein's former chair as 'proper'.

In addition to his work as a doctor and university lecturer, Goebels dealt in particular with metabolic and nutritional disorders and described the Goebel measles phenomenon, which is named after him, as part of his diagnosis of infectious diseases . Other focal points of his research were subjects such as intestinal parasitosis , anemia and poliomyelitis . He gained particular merit after the Second World War with the introduction of streptomycin therapy for tuberculosis.

Life

He married Gisela von Held (* 1896) in Koblenz in 1915 , a daughter of General of the Infantry Louis von Held (1849–1927) and Maria von Keßler . The couple had a son and two daughters.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reimund Freye: VARIA: HISTORY OF MEDICINE. Documentation about individual fates: The Odyssey of Jewish Pediatricians . In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt 95, No. 50, 1998.
  2. ↑ Michael Bernhard: Der Pädiater Ernst Freudenberg: 1884 - 1967. 2001, ISBN 3-82888-231-5 , p. 66 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  3. ↑ Michael Bernhard: Der Pädiater Ernst Freudenberg: 1884 - 1967. 2001, ISBN 3-82888-231-5 , p. 68 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  4. ^ Regine Erichsen: They Fought Child Mortality - The German-Jewish Doctors Erna and Albert Eckstein in Exile in Turkey (Lecture in the German-Turkish Society Bonn / Synagogue Community Bonn on May 3, 2012)
personal data
SURNAME Goebel, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pediatrician
DATE OF BIRTH June 3, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Bielefeld
DATE OF DEATH September 1, 1950
Place of death Munich