Hans Rietschel

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Martin Philipp Johannes (Hans) Rietschel (born September 11, 1878 in Wittenberg ; † June 10, 1970 in Wertheim ) was a German pediatrician, professor and director of the University Children's Clinic in Würzburg , who worked on numerous research projects on infectious diseases, infant nutrition and vitamin examinations profiled.

Life

Hans Rietschel was born as the son of the Protestant theologian Georg Rietschel and his wife Karoline, nee. Müllensiefen, born in Wittenberg. He first attended elementary school in his hometown and from Easter 1887 in Leipzig , where his father was pastor of St. Matthew. In 1888 he became a student at the Royal High School in Leipzig, which he left with the final exam at Easter 1897. In the same year he began studying human medicine at the University of Leipzig . During his studies he became a member of the Association of German Students in Leipzig . With a short break in Tübingen , he completed his studies in Leipzig with the medical examination and the grade "very good" on March 21, 1902. At the same time he received his ministerial appointment as a doctor.

At the Physiological Institute of the University of Leipzig, Rietschel did his doctorate with a thesis on reduced conduction speed of the nerves that survived in "Ringer's solution" . He passed his oral doctoral examination on October 27, 1902 with "summa cum laude". From 1902 to 1904 he worked as a trainee and assistant doctor in internal medicine at the University of Leipzig.

Rietschel received his first assistant position in paediatrics on October 1, 1904 in the University Children's Clinic of the Berlin Charité under the direction of Otto Heubner , who since 1894 was the first professor of paediatrics in Germany. On April 1, 1907, following a recommendation from Heubner, Rietschel was appointed to succeed Arthur Schlossmann as chief physician of the Dresden infant home.

On June 15, 1907, Rietschel married Julie Müllersiefen, with whom he had two daughters and three sons. The Saxon Ministry of Culture awarded him the title of professor on December 18, 1911 without prior habilitation.

At the beginning of the First World War , Rietschel was employed in the Königsbrück prison hospital as an advisory doctor and from May 1, 1915 as a medical officer.

Again by a recommendation, this time by the head of the Munich University Children's Clinic Meinhard von Pfaundler , Rietschel was appointed on April 6, 1917 as the successor to Jussuf Ibrahim (who moved to the University of Jena as professor ) as associate professor for paediatrics at the University of Würzburg . On January 17, 1921, he was appointed second full professor of paediatrics at the University of Würzburg (after Franz von Rinecker , who in 1850 was the “public professor of ... childhood diseases” at the Würzburg Juliusspital at the world's first independent university children's clinic).

With the move of the children's clinic to the newly built Luitpold Hospital on January 1, 1923, the previous spatial inadequacies could be overcome and adequate inpatient accommodation ensured. Here Rietschel headed numerous research projects in the field of infectious diseases , human vitamin C requirements and infant nutrition. The "Rietschel milk" named after him was an important part of infant medicine. The further spectrum of his scientific activities also ranged from tuberculosis and syphilis to common childhood diseases. In addition to several hundred publications in various specialist journals, he published Hecker and Trumpp 's pediatrics as the second edition, which he had completely revised .

In the German Society for Paediatrics , he was a member of the board from 1933 to 1938 and occasionally as chairman from 1934 to 1936.

In the time of National Socialism , Rietschel had to deal with the health policy ideas of the new rulers. The influence of the NSDAP was already very great at the beginning, as the majority of the lecturers and students at the University of Würzburg were very positive about the new ideas. The radical ideas of the new regime and its anti-church attitude met with more or less strong reservations or rejection from the nationally conservative, but also evangelical-Christian minded Rietschel. As one of the exponents of the University of Würzburg as a state institution and as a board member of the German Society for Paediatrics, Rietschel felt compelled to join the NSDAP on May 1, 1937 (membership no. 5635759).

Rietschel was a member of the German People's Party as early as the 1920s, but left it again around 1930/1931. When he joined the Stahlhelm in 1933 , after its transfer to the SA, he automatically became a member of this party organization, from which, however, he resigned in 1936.

Rietschel's assistant from 1932 to 1936, Felix von Bormann , who acted as Sturmbannarzt I / 9 and medical officer, proved to be a political activist . Rietschel had stood up for Bormann because he was dependent on the support of an experienced assistant. His senior physician Hermann Burchard was NS lecturer leader at the University of Würzburg from 1935. Since Rietschel's Jewish employees are only known from the time before 1933, he was spared the unworthy removal of "non-Aryan" employees due to the new law for the restoration of the civil service of April 1933 and the 3rd ordinance on this from May 1933.

There are no known indications of Rietschel's involvement in the forced sterilization of children from 1933 or the so-called child euthanasia that took place from 1939 . Rietschel rather revealed himself to be an opponent of euthanasia (and thus also of the National Socialist perversion of this term).

In 1941 he was dean of the medical faculty.

After the bombing raid on Würzburg on March 16, 1945 , during which parts of the university children's clinic were also destroyed, the patients had to be evacuated by horse and cart to an inn in the neighboring village of Güntersleben . Rietschel was dismissed informally, without giving a reason, on January 2, 1946 by order of the American military government for Bavaria , but actually ran the clinic until August 1, 1946. The Würzburger Spruchkammer IV classified him with a decision of June 2, 1947 based on his NSDAP and SA membership as " fellow travelers " (group IV) and imposed a penalty of 2000 RM as well as the assumption of the procedural costs of 4375 RM. Rietschel's rehabilitation efforts failed, so that he was refused retirement. It was not until January 27, 1953, that the Bavarian Ministry of Culture awarded him the corresponding certificate.

In addition to numerous awards such as As the Order of Merit of the First World War and the War Cross of World War II was Rietschel on the occasion of his 80th birthday on September 11, 1958, an honorary doctorate from the Medical Academy Dresden awarded. For his research in the field of nutritional pathology he received the Rinecker Medal of the Medical Faculty of the Würzburg University in 1965 . At a very old age he dealt with problems of Protestant theology .

At the age of 92, Hans Rietschel died after a brief illness on June 10, 1970 in Wertheim.

literature

  • Martin Hofer: Hans Rietschel (1878–1970) - Director of the University Children's Hospital in Würzburg from 1917–1946. Dissertation. Würzburg 2006. ( online , PDF, 31.9 MB)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Louis Lange (Ed.): Kyffhäuser Association of German Student Associations. Address book 1931. Berlin 1931, p. 184.
  2. ↑ Martin Hofer: The pediatrician Hans Rietschel (1878-1970) - director of the University Children's Hospital in Würzburg from 1917 to 1947. In: Tempora mutantur et nos? Festschrift for Walter M. Brod on his 95th birthday. With contributions from friends, companions and contemporaries. Edited by Andreas Mettenleiter , Akamedon, Pfaffenhofen 2007, p. 428 f.
  3. ↑ Martin Hofer, p. 428
  4. ^ Gundolf Keil: 150 years of the University Children's Hospital in Würzburg. Würzburg medical history reports 21 (2002), pp. 37–42; P. 41
  5. ↑ Martin Hofer, p. 429
  6. ↑ Martin Hofer, p. 429
  7. ↑ Ute Felbor: Racial Biology and Hereditary Science in the Medical Faculty of the University of Würzburg 1937–1945. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1995 (= Würzburg medical historical research. Supplement 3; also dissertation Würzburg 1995), ISBN 3-88479-932-0 , pp. 40, 42 and 168.
  8. ↑ Martin Hofer, p. 429

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Rietschel, Hans
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rietschel, Martin Philipp Johannes (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pediatrician, director of the University Children's Hospital Würzburg and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH September 11, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Wittenberg
DATE OF DEATH June 10, 1970
Place of death Wertheim