Imperial Health Department

The main building of the Imperial Health Department in Berlin (1907) was in the Hansaviertel on Klopstockstrasse

The Imperial Health Office , later the Reich Health Office , was a German Reich authority for consumer protection in the health and veterinary sectors based in Berlin .

history

The Imperial Health Department was established on April 28, 1876 as the central body for the medical and veterinary system in Berlin. Initially it was part of the Reich Chancellery and since 1879 it was subordinate to the Reich Office of the Interior . In 1879 the "Law on the movement of food, luxury goods and everyday objects" was passed, for the monitoring of which the Imperial Health Office was responsible, among other things. The Imperial Health saw its task primarily in promoting “the practical application of scientific teachings”. A building at Klopstockstrasse 18 in the Hansaviertel was built as the official residence between 1894 and 1897 according to plans by the architect August Busse , which was destroyed in World War II. The Reich Health Council established on June 30, 1900 , which consisted of representatives of the federal states, supported the Imperial Health Department in its tasks.

In 1918 the Imperial Health Office was renamed the Reich Health Office . Between 1933 and 1945 the authority implemented the racial policy of the National Socialists by ordering compulsory sterilizations with expert reports . After the collapse in 1945, the Berlin magistrate took over parts of the Reich Health Office in the newly founded Central Institute for Hygiene and Health Service . In 1952 this was incorporated into the newly established Federal Health Office .

Head of the Imperial Health Department

• 1876–1884: Director Heinrich Struck
• 1884–1885: provisional management by Robert Koch
• 1885–1905: Director, from 1900 President Karl Köhler (physician)
• 1905–1926: President Franz Bumm (from 1918 Reich Health Office)
• 1926–1933: President Carl Hamel
• 1933-: President Hans Reiter

Scientific work

The most famous employee of the Imperial Health Department was the doctor and bacteriologist Robert Koch , who made some of his groundbreaking discoveries here. Julius Richard Petri invented the Petri dish while working at the Imperial Health Department .

literature

• Axel C. Hüntelmann: Hygiene in the name of the state. The Reich Health Office 1876–1933 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 3-8353-0343-0 .
• Hückels: The new building of the Imperial Health Office in Berlin . In: Journal of Construction . Volume 50 (1900), col. 19–40, plates 6–11. Digitized by the Central and State Library Berlin . https://digital.zlb.de/viewer/image/15239363_1900/13/
• Manfred Stürzbecher: tasks and services of public health care. The heads of authorities of the Reich Health Office in Berlin 1876–1945 . In: Yearbook “The Bear of Berlin”, ed. v. Association for the History of Berlin , 25th year, Berlin 1976.
• Kurt Jeserich (Ed.): German Administrative History , Volumes 3 and 4, Stuttgart 1984–85.

Web links

Commons : Imperial Health Department  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Wolfgang Wippermann : 125 years of the "Institute for Consumer Health Protection and Veterinary Medicine", 2001 ( PDF )
• Federal Archives R 86 Reich Health Office [1]

Individual evidence

1. ^ Reichsgesetzblatt, 1875, p. 330
2. ↑ Imperial Health Office (ed.): Health booklet. Comprehensive health care guide. 3rd impression. Julius Springer, Berlin 1894, p. IV.
3. ^ Uwe Kieling: Berlin building officials and state architects in the 19th century, p. 15, Berlin 1986
4. ^ Reichsgesetzblatt, 1900, p. 315