Hans Neuffer

Hans Neuffer (born January 18, 1892 in Ludwigsburg , † March 2, 1968 in Stuttgart ) was a German doctor, publicist and president of the German Medical Association (1949-1959).

Live and act

Hans Neuffer came from a Protestant family of Swabian lawyers and theologians. He was the fifth child of a Ludwigsburg senior building officer and a mother with English and French roots; his brother was Friedrich Wilhelm Neuffer . The parents belonged to the free church " brother movement ". Henry Dunant (1828–1910) was a welcome visitor to the hospitable and musical family home .

In his hometown Hans Neuffer attended the humanistic grammar school, after which he studied medicine at the universities of Tübingen, Heidelberg and Kiel from 1910. In Tübingen he was accepted into the " German Christian Student Association " and the "German Institute for Medical Mission". To the Dr. med. after receiving his doctorate, he took part in the First World War as a field medical officer in the Stuttgart VI Reserve Hospital and then from 1916 to 1917 as a battalion doctor on the western front near Verdun. After the end of the war he became an assistant at the surgical clinic in Tübingen with his doctoral supervisor Georg Clemens Perthes . In 1921 he went to China, where he worked with his wife as a senior doctor at a missionary hospital of the Brethren movement in the Chinese province of Kiangsu until 1927 . Neuffer's work as chief physician at this hospital was connected with the establishment of a nursing school.

On his return in 1929 he became the chief doctor of the police in the Württemberg Ministry of the Interior. He had to give up this position in 1936, because his position as a professed Christian on the euthanasia efforts of the National Socialists ultimately led to his elimination by the Nazi authorities when filling medical offices. At that time he opened a private practice in Stuttgart-Degerloch , which he led until 1963. His most prominent patient was Theodor Heuss .

Neuffer also turned his back on the Brethren movement in 1937 for political reasons, as the “Bund Free Church Christians” founded after the assembly ban of April 13, 1937, in his opinion, mixed religious and political demands with one another inadmissibly.

From 1947 to 1955 Neuffer was chairman or president of the District Medical Association of North-Württemberg, from 1955 to 1958 President of the State Medical Association of Baden-Württemberg and from 1949 to 1959 President, then Honorary President of the Federal Medical Association , in whose establishment he was significantly involved. In his capacity as President of the German Medical Association, Neuffer was also decisively involved in the formulation and adoption of the Nursing Act of the Federal Republic of Germany of July 15, 1957, which for the first time stipulated a three-year training period.

He has received numerous honors. In 1952 he was awarded the title of " Professor " by the state government of Baden-Württemberg . Among other things, he was the holder of the Paracelsus Medal (1959) and an honorary senator of the University of Tübingen. On his 65th birthday in 1957, he received an honorary doctorate in theology and the great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany with a star.

In memory of Hans Neuffer the Medical association-Wuerttemberg in 1970 founded the Hans Neuffer plaque .

Works (selection)

• Thoughts on the damage that occurred in the circle of the brothers over the years (typescript, 1933) (PDF, 73 kB, accessed January 19, 2015)
• Medical ethics. In: Therapy and Practice. Vienna and Innsbruck 1958, pp. 1–9
• Attempt to realize Christianity with the doctor. Medical communications (1960), 48, pp. 2461-2465.
• The elevated serpent. A life story under the sign of the Aesculapian staff and the cross. Deutscher Ärzte-Verlag, Cologne and Berlin 1965.

literature

• Edeltraud Kleffmann: Hans Neuffer (1892–1968): Protagonist of a Christian medical ethic of the fifties. In: Würzburger medical historical reports 21, 2002, pp. 326–337.
• René Denis, Dominik Groß : Hans Neuffer (1892–1968). Medical ethicist and professional politician in personal union. In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 22, 2003, pp. 235-247.

Web links

• Literature by and about Hans Neuffer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Munzinger archive : Hans Neuffer . Internationales Biographisches Archiv 21/1968 of May 13, 1968 (accessed on January 19, 2015)
• State Medical Association of Baden-Württemberg: Anniversary supplement 70 years of Ärzteblatt Baden-Württemberg (accessed on January 19, 2015)
• Thomas Gerst : Medical professional organization and professional politics in Germany 1945–1955 . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2004 (accessed January 19, 2015)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Volker Klimpel : Hans Neuffer . In: Hubert Kolling (ed.): Biographical Lexicon for Nursing History - Who was Who in Nursing History , Volume 8, hpsmedia, Nidda 2018, p. 212 f.
2. ↑ René Denis, Dominik Groß: Hans Neuffer (1892–1968). Medical ethicist and professional politician in personal union. In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 22, 2003, pp. 235-247; here: p. 236.
3. ^ Gerhard Jordy: The Brothers Movement in Germany , Volume 3: The Development Since 1937 , R. Brockhaus Verlag, Wuppertal 1986, p. 173.
4. ↑ Report on the 62nd Doctors' Day in Lübeck ( Memento of the original from January 19, 2015 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. , Bayerisches Ärzteblatt 14 (1959) (8), pp. 177–181 (pdf, accessed on January 19, 2015)  
5. ↑ State Medical Association of Baden Württemberg: Hans Neuffer badge and badge of honor (accessed on January 19, 2015)

predecessor	Office	successor
Carl Oelemann	President of the German Medical Association 1949–1959	Ernst Fromm