Siegfried Graeff

Siegfried Wilhelm Gräff (born March 22, 1887 in Karlsruhe ; † November 2, 1966 in Burgberg ) was a German pathologist , hospital doctor and university professor .

Life

Siegfried Gräff was born in Karlsruhe as one of fifteen children of the Gräff family. His father Wilhelm Gräff (1844–1920) worked as a bookseller. After attending the grammar school branch of the reform grammar school in his hometown until 1905, he studied medicine. His studies took him to Strasbourg, Heidelberg, Freiburg, Leipzig and Berlin. During his studies in 1906 he became a member of the Saxo-Silesia Freiburg fraternity . After successfully completing his studies in 1910, he worked as a medical intern in Karlsruhe. He worked for six months in the internal department of the deaconess hospital in Karlsruhe and at the prosecution of the Karlsruhe municipal clinic . On December 19, 1911, he received permission to practice as a doctor.

After receiving his doctorate in medicine on March 1, 1912, Gräff worked from April 1 of the same year until 1921 as an assistant at the pathological institute of the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg under the direction of Ludwig Aschoff . Both knew each other through Graff's internship there from April to October 1907. Shortly after starting work, Gräff became seriously ill with pulmonary tuberculosis . He therefore traveled to a sanatorium in Davos for a spa stay , where he spent five months. After he recovered, he worked at the facility as a volunteer assistant for several months. In mid-1914 he went to the Physiological Institute of the University of Halle , where he continued his scientific training as a visiting doctor.

At the beginning of the First World War , Gräff was drafted into military service. As a civilian military doctor, he went to Freiburg for a few months at a secondary school, which housed a reserve hospital. From October 1914 he worked in Metz , where he did an autopsy as a pathologist . After returning to the Freiburg Institute on April 1, 1915, he worked there as first assistant and resident doctor. In addition to autopsies, he was also responsible for examinations. Since Ludwig Aschoff had not been at the pathological institute since March 1, 1916 due to the war, Gräff was deputy head of the institute and teaching. In June 1917 he completed his habilitation in general pathology and pathological anatomy at the University of Freiburg. In 1920 Gräff married Heta Aschoff, who was a daughter of Ludwig Aschoff. The couple had four children.

Siegfried Gräff left the University of Freiburg and continued his education from April 1 to September 20, 1921 at the Urbank Hospital in Berlin . He wanted to learn physical-chemical methods and had been released from the Karlsruhe Ministry of Culture for this purpose. From October 1, 1921, he worked as an assistant at the Pathological Institute of Heidelberg University . After a shortened procedure he was appointed professor on October 26, 1921 and in 1922 by the Baden State Ministry as associate professor.

In December 1922 he received a call from Niigata University in Japan , where he was to receive a position as second professor at the medical faculty. The Ministry of Education decided in January 1923 to give Gräff two years off for this. Together with his wife he moved to Japan, where from March 1923 to March 1925 he held a position as a visiting professor at the Institute of Pathology. He then returned to his previous place of work, but took another leave of absence in January 1928. He spent the summer semester of the same year at the University of Tübingen , where he represented the chair of pathology. He then went back to Heidelberg, where he was appointed prosector in November 1928 .

Even at this point in time, Gräff was considered a renowned scientist who had made lecture tours to Russia , Korea , Scandinavia , Belgium and Manchuria in the 1920s . Based on this expertise, the General Hospital Barmbek entrusted him with the management of the large pathological institute as senior physician. In addition, Gräff taught again at the Medical Faculty of the University of Hamburg. He gave a first lecture on June 25, 1929, which took place in the lecture hall of the Pathological Institute of the General Hospital Eppendorf . On April 28, 1930 he was appointed "Professor" by the Hamburg Senate.

After the National Socialists seized power , Gräff became a member of the Stahlhelm in 1933 and joined the National Socialist People's Welfare and the Reichsbund der Kinderreich in 1934 . Since 1935 he belonged to the Reichsbund der Deutschen Officials , in 1937 became a member of the NSDAP , the National Socialist German Medical Association and the National Socialist Teachers Association and in 1941 the Reichskolonialbund . Gräff is "firmly on the ground of National Socialism," said Edgar Reye in 1936 in his role as medical director of the hospital in Barmbek. In 1939, Gräff was awarded the title of "extraordinary professor". The Barmbek hospital had previously attested that he had "Aryan descent". According to the Hamburger Anzeiger of January 13, 1944, Gräff wore a uniform when making public presentations. He mostly talked about infectious diseases.

The British military government was after the war ended on 10 January 1946, the statement Gräff as Professor of Hamburg University to dismiss lodged while Gräff opposition. The advisory committee of the medical faculty then checked Gräff's political commitment again and came to the conclusion that the pathologist was not an active National Socialist and should therefore be reinstated. The works council of the hospital in Barmbek also shared this opinion. In November 1946, Gräff received the message from the university department of the Hamburg school administration that he could hold lectures again. The Barmbeck hospital also employed him again from the end of 1946.

1952 Siegfried Gräff retired. In the following years he was involved in the association of pathologists in Greater Hamburg, which he chaired, as well as for the basic research section of the Hamburg Society for Cancer Research and Fighting Cancer. The North German Tuberculosis Society made him an honorary member in 1953. Since 1953, Gräff headed the section department of the children's hospital in Rothenburgsort . Gräff, who had published more than 200 scientific papers by 1952, received the Hufeland Medal from the Central Association of Doctors for Naturopathic Treatment in 1962. The association justified the award with Gräff's “special merits in naturopathy”.

Siegfried Gräff died in November 1966 in Burgberg in the Black Forest .

literature

• Christine Pieper: Gräff, Siegfried . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 4 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0229-7 , pp. 120-122 .
• Gräff, Siegfried: Medical and pathological-anatomical research and teaching: approaches a. their effect in the medical profession, administration of justice, etc. Insurance , electricity publisher, Hamburg-Bergedorf 1950 [1]

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hugo Böttger (ed.): Directory of the old fraternity members according to the status of the winter semester 1911/12. Berlin 1912, p. 64.