Günter Stüttgen

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Günter Stüttgen (born January 23, 1919 in Düsseldorf ; † October 21, 2003 in Berlin ) was a German dermatologist and university professor. From 1968 to 1988 he was full professor and head physician at the University Dermatology Clinic and Polyclinic of the Free University of Berlin in the Rudolf Virchow Hospital . He became known for his humanitarian work for the wounded on both sides in the battle in the Huertgen Forest .

Live and act

Education

After graduating from high school in Düsseldorf, Stüttgen studied medicine at the universities of Freiburg , Marburg and Düsseldorf . He passed the state examination in 1943.

The "miracle of the Hürtgenwald"

Stüttgen achieved international fame in particular through his work as a captain and troop doctor in the All Souls' Battle from November 4 to 12, 1944, one of the three partial battles of the Battle of the Huertgen Forest , the longest battle of the Second World War on German soil, in which a total of 64,000 war dead on both sides were counted. The doctor, who had already been awarded the Iron Cross at that time, also treated American war wounded at his medical base, as provided for by the Geneva Conventions. On November 7, 1944, the first direct contact was made with American medical personnel, and Stüttgen succeeded three times in negotiating breaks in combat lasting several hours, with the support of the regimental commander Colonel Rösler, during which both sides were able to save their wounded and patients who were cared for were exchanged. At times he worked in his medical shelter with American medical personnel. Hundreds of soldiers on both sides owed their lives to the committed work of Stüttgen. "We had respect for one another," explained Günter Stüttgen in an interview in Die Welt on June 23, 2001, "Respect that only soldiers who know the horror of war can have for one another."

Towards the end of the war, Stüttgen surrendered an entire military hospital, located at a different stage of the battle, to the advancing Allies without a fight and was sentenced to death in absentia.

The extraordinary events in the Hürtgen Forest had been forgotten for almost 50 years. At the beginning of the 1990s, the numerous accounts of American soldiers about the " Miracle of Hurtgen Forest " and the " German doctor " aroused the interest of American military historians. Together with active members of the 28th US Infantry Division, they went on a search and in 1996 identified Günter Stüttgen as the " German doctor " they were looking for .

Günter Stüttgen was honored for his act of humanity towards the enemy on November 12, 1996 at a ceremony in the Capitol in Harrisburg. In addition, the event was recorded in a certificate of honor and a painting entitled A Time for Healing . The original is now in the National Guard Museum. A copy of the painting and the certificate of honor is in the Peace Museum in Vossenack .

Memorial sculpture at the Kallbrücke

A memorial sculpture made of dolomite by the sculptor Michael Pohlmann from Vettweiß with the name A Time for Healing was erected on November 7, 2004 in the middle of the Kallbrücke. It shows a roughly hewn, ring-shaped disk penetrated by a smoothly polished shaft. The artist himself interpreted it as the harsh environment in which the humanitarian encounter takes place. A German and English-language information board by the artist Tillmann Schmitten with the background to the events during the All Souls Battle was set up in September 2005.

Excerpt from the speech on the occasion of the commemoration of 60 years of fighting in the Hürtgenwald and inauguration of the memorial sculpture on November 7, 2004 by John A. Brogan III, former US Consul General. D .:

“Impossible to find rational words to describe the violent killing, the raging extinction of life. It is a godforsaken piece of German earth, filled with the reverberations of bursting explosions. Also filled with the echo of death cries and bathed in blood. And then, in the moment of greatest need, in the darkest hour, when there is only despair, it becomes clear that this place of greatest misery has not been forsaken by God. Because now an incredible miracle is happening. [...] It was sixty years ago and on this day a noble and heroic German military doctor slowly entered the battlefield with his paramedics. Captain Günther Stüttgen dares to rescue the dead and help the injured, without distinguishing whether American or German, and obtains a de facto armistice that defeats death for three unforgettable days. [...] Courage and decency will always be honored - not only when former soldiers who fought here meet. For us Americans too, Captain Stüttgen is both a role model and a symbol of the hero. "

Along with Friedrich Lengfeld, Stüttgen is the second German soldier and participant in the battle in the Hürtgenwald to be honored by his former opponents.

Medical career

Released from captivity in 1945, he continued his work as a doctor. In 1962 he was the only competent doctor who came to the Eifel of his own free will to fight a smallpox epidemic. He fell ill with the disease, which was not initially recognized by the authorities, but recovered. He later became the senior physician in charge of the skin clinic at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. In 1951 he was habilitated in dermatology and venereology with recognition of his previously published work and without a habilitation thesis . In 1957 he received an extraordinary professorship. Stüttgen researched in particular in the area of ​​the penetration kinetics of substances through the skin. In particular, his name is associated with the use of vitamin A or retinoids in dermatology. Stüttgen was also a member of the Drugs Commission A of the former Federal Health Office , which was founded after the thalidomide disaster ( Contergan ).

With Constantin E. Orfanos , he was on duty in 1962 when a smallpox outbreak occurred in Lammersdorf , which is located in the Hürtgenwald. Both were later colleagues at the FU Berlin and they were close friends.

From 1968 to 1988 he was full professor and head physician at the University Dermatology Clinic and Polyclinic of the Free University of Berlin in the Rudolf Virchow Hospital in the Berlin district of Wedding .

The Günter Stüttgen Medal

On the occasion of the celebration of Günter Stüttgen's 80th birthday (January 1999), the oldest professional association of German dermatologists, the Berlin Dermatological Society (BDG), donated the "Günter Stüttgen Medal".

Excerpt from the statutes of the BDG: “The Günter Stüttgen Medal for outstanding scientific merits in dermatology is the highest honor bestowed by the Berlin Dermatological Society. The Günter Stüttgen Medal is intended to honor the outstanding life's work of an internationally renowned dermatologist or doctor in a medical or scientific field who has gained fundamental knowledge relevant to dermatology or who has made significant therapeutic advances in the field of Made possible by dermatology. The Günter Stüttgen Medal is awarded for the first time in 2000 and thereafter on the occasion, but not more often than every 2 years. The board of the Berlin Dermatological Society determines the point in time for a further award of the Günter Stüttgen Medal. The Günter Stüttgen Medal can only be awarded to one prize winner at a time and is not associated with a financial contribution ”.

Death and grave

Günter Stüttgen died in Berlin in 2003 at the age of 84. His grave is in the Schmargendorf cemetery .

further reading

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Prof. Dr. Günter Stüttgen - "the German doctor"
  2. ↑ Interview Günter Stüttgen: Battle in the Hürtgenwald 1944 (2) ( Memento of the original from August 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vossenack.nrw
  3. ↑ Interview Günter Stüttgen: Battle in the Hürtgenwald 1944 (3)
  4. ↑ Guido Heinen: The miracle of the Hürtgenwald. In: The world . June 23, 2001. Retrieved November 30, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Speech on the occasion of the commemoration "60 years of fighting in the Hürtgenwald". November 7, 2004 by John A. Brogan III (orthographically edited)
  6. ↑ Modest hero and fearless doctor - photo gallery 3/16 , SPon October 4, 2019, accessed November 20, 2019
  7. ↑ Prof. Dr. Günter Stüttgen In The Dermatologist. Volume 55, Number 12, 2004, pp. 1172-1174. (Obituary)
  8. ↑ a b Steffen Kopetzky: Epidemic in the Eifel 1962: The attack of dangerous smallpox. In: Spiegel Online . March 26, 2020, accessed March 26, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Interview with CE Orfanos on the 125th anniversary of the German Dermatological Society on Derma.de. (mp4 video, 59.5 MB, 16:47 minutes) In: derma.de. Archived from the original on March 19, 2015 ; accessed on March 26, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Articles of Association of the Berlin Dermatological Society (PDF; 23 kB)
  11. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 . P. 453.
personal data
SURNAME Stüttgen, Günter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German dermatologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 23, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf
DATE OF DEATH October 21, 2003
Place of death Berlin