Otto Mugdan

Otto Mugdan 1907

Otto Mugdan (born March 11, 1862 in Breslau ; † September 15, 1925 in Berlin ) was a doctor and social politician .

Life

Otto Mugdan was a son of the textile merchant Joachim Mugdan from Kempen in Poznan . From 1872 to 1879 he attended the Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium in his hometown. After graduating from high school, he studied medicine at the University of Wroclaw . In 1884 he continued his studies at the University of Erlangen and received his doctorate there. In 1885 Mugdan settled in Berlin as a general practitioner and as a pediatrician . In 1886 he declared his "exit from Judaism " and converted to Protestant Christianity a few years later .

Services

Mugdan was one of the founders of the "Doctors' Association for the Introduction of Free Choice of Doctor" and from 1892 was a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Medical Association . For many years he was on the executive committee of the German Association of Doctors and was a member of the supervisory board of the Hartmann Association . He skillfully conveyed the topics of social medicine and insurance law to his colleagues in essays and lectures . But he also took an active part in the development of social issues . He took part in the two international congresses for workers' insurance in Vienna (1905) and Rome (1908). As a member of the Reichstag for the Liberal People's Party , from 1903 on he dealt primarily with health , accident and disability insurance. He called for their simplification and standardization as well as improvements in services. For him, nursing was primarily a profession, not just charity. He repeatedly advocated accident prevention, industrial hygiene and maternity leave and called for practical medical training. He was the only doctor involved in the 1911 Reich Insurance Code. However, only a few of his reform requests were implemented.

When Mugdan ran in the Berlin city council elections in 1908 , prominent members of the Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith (CV) supported him against his social democratic opponent. This so-called "Mugdan case" sparked lively debates about the CV's attitude towards baptized Jews. In 1912 Mugdan's candidacy for the Prussian House of Representatives again provoked severe criticism, especially in the Jüdische Rundschau . During the Weimar Republic , Mugdan was initially a member of the DDP ( German Democratic Party ), but switched to the DVP ( German People's Party ) in 1920 . In Berlin-Charlottenburg he taught at the Social Hygiene Academy, and in medical professional organizations he worked in positions of responsibility.

Publications

• The Health Insurance Act, Commentary for Doctors . 1900.
• Commentary for doctors on the Commercial Accident Insurance Act . 1902.
• The Reich Insurance Code . 1911.

literature

• Eckhard Hansen, Florian Tennstedt (Eds.) U. a .: Biographical lexicon on the history of German social policy from 1871 to 1945 . Volume 1: Social politicians in the German Empire 1871 to 1918. Kassel University Press, Kassel 2010, ISBN 978-3-86219-038-6 , p. 114 f. ( Online , PDF; 2.2 MB).
• Joachim Mugdan:  Mugdan, Otto. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , pp. 569-571 ( digitized version ).
• Otto Mugdan , in: Ernest Hamburger : Jews in public life in Germany: members of the government, civil servants and parliamentarians in the monarchical era. 1848-1918 . Tübingen: Mohr, 1968, p. 366f.
• W. Stephan: Rise and Decline of Left Liberalism 1918–1933 . Göttingen 1973.

Web links

• Otto Mugdan in the database of members of the Reichstag
• Otto Mugdan's biography . In: Heinrich Best : database of the members of the Reichstag of the Empire 1867/71 to 1918 (Biorab - Kaiserreich)