Nurse

Practice sign of a Jewish doctor

Prescription from a health care professional

The nurse was a discriminatory concept of the Nazi regime for Jewish doctors , whose license to practice medicine (under the term introduced by the National Socialists in 1935: Bestallung ) was withdrawn on September 30, 1938 without exception due to the fourth ordinance on the Reich Citizenship Act of July 25, 1938 who were allowed to continue to practice their profession to treat Jewish citizens. This regulation states:

The Reich Minister of the Interior or the body authorized by him can revocably allow doctors whose appointments have expired on the basis of § 1 to exercise the medical profession at the suggestion of the Reich Medical Association. Approval can be granted subject to conditions.

In July 1938, 3,670 Jewish doctors lived in the German Reich, 1,561 of them in Berlin (where the majority of the remaining German Jews lived according to the definition of the Nuremberg Laws ). Since non-Jewish doctors were not allowed to treat Jews, their medical care was no longer guaranteed after the displacement of Jewish doctors. In August 1938, at a meeting of the Reich Health Leader Leonard Conti with representatives of public health, physicians' association set and the Berlin Medical Association that künfig a Jewish doctor was to allow for the supply of 1,200 Berlin Jews, which should be active not only in private practice , but should also look after all Jewish institutions. The supply key was significantly worse than that of the non-Jewish population (one doctor for every 600 people). The decisions made in Berlin were probably implemented throughout the Reich. The Jewish communities had to submit proposals for the doctors in question. The care of Jewish patients and thus the place of activity of the “medical practitioners” was centralized in many places, partly in Jewish hospitals, but also in community centers or even synagogues .

Only a few Jewish doctors were able to continue practicing their profession as a result of the ordinance - now as medical practitioners and exclusively for Jewish patients. How many doctors have been approved as medical practitioners in the various cities is just as uncertain as the criteria on which the selection is based. By the end of the war, a total of 369 nurses could be identified for Berlin. In other cities there were significantly fewer doctors working in this area, and at times none at all. The fluctuation as a result of the November pogroms 1938 , emigration, deportation and suicide was high.

Those affected were no longer allowed to use the term “doctor”. Instead, a large number of different terms were used, such as “practitioner”, “Jewish practitioner”, “Jewish practitioner” or subject-specific terms such as “eye practitioner”. In the course of this, the term “medical practitioner” established itself. Those affected had to wear a Star of David on prescriptions, letterheads and practice signs and the addition “Only Jews entitled to medical treatment”. The supply gap resulting from the displacement of Jewish doctors - also for non-Jewish patients - could not be closed and contributed to the general shortage of doctors , which worsened with the beginning and the end of the war.

Similar to Jewish doctors, Jewish lawyers were also withdrawn from their license; some of them were able to continue working as so-called "(Jewish) consultants " to a limited extent.

literature

• Rebecca Schwoch : Jewish doctors as nurses in Berlin between 1938 and 1945 . Mabuse-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2018, ISBN 978-3-86321-322-0 .
• Rebecca Schwoch: "Practically condemned to starvation" - "Healer" between 1938 and 1945 . doi : 10.1515 / 9783110306057.75 In: Thomas Beddies , Susanne Doetz, Christoph Kopke : Jewish Doctors in National Socialism. Disenfranchisement, expulsion, murder. De Gruyter Oldenbourg, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-11-030605-7 . doi : 10.1515 / 9783110306057 .

See also

• Ordinance on the approval of doctors to work for the health insurance companies

Web links

• Rebecca Schwoch: Jewish doctors in the Nazi era: "We were outcasts". In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt . 2006; 103 (11).
• Annegret Hofmann: In the service of public health - doctors under National Socialism. In: Friday . November 21, 2003.
• Documentarchiv.de: Fourth ordinance to the Reich Citizenship Act of July 25, 1938

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Schwoch 2018, p. 31.
2. ^ Fourth ordinance to the Reich Citizenship Act of July 25, 1938
3. ↑ Schwoch 2018, p. 32f.
4. ↑ Schwoch 2018, p. 46f.
5. ↑ Schwoch 2018, p. 49.
6. ↑ Schwoch 2018, p. 50.
7. ↑ Schwoch 2018, p. 67ff.
8. ↑ Schwoch 2018, pp. 49–51.
9. ↑ Schwoch 2018, p. 56f.
10. ↑ Schwoch 2018, pp. 60ff.
11. ↑ Schwoch 2018, pp. 74f.
12. ↑ Schwoch 2018, p. 39.