Wilhelm Röpke (surgeon)

Wilhelm Konrad Röpke (born October 15, 1873 in Sögel , Emsland , † October 6, 1945 in Wuppertal - Barmen ) was a German surgeon in Wuppertal.

Life

Röpke's parents were the (Catholic) District Court Judge Ludwig Friedrich Adolf Röpke and his wife Emma Dorothea born. Francs . Röpke had the brothers Johann Wilhelm Heinrich (* 1872) and Adolf Friedrich Ludwig (* 1875)

Röpke attended the Ubbo-Emmius-Gymnasium Leer . From 1894 he studied medicine at the Georg August University in Göttingen , the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel and the University of Jena . During his studies in 1896 he became a member of the Landsmannschaft Die Märker Jena . After the state examination and the license to practice medicine, he was awarded a Dr. med. PhD. He served as a one-year volunteer and worked clinically as a volunteer assistant for half a year. In May 1901 surgical training began with Bernhard Riedel and Erich Lexer in Jena. On November 15, 1905 , he completed his habilitation. The dean had invited Otto Binswanger to the inaugural lecture . Röpke spoke about the genu valgum and its orthopedic treatment. He received the Venia legendi and became a lecturer . He headed the surgical polyclinic and the orthopedic department.

After an expert opinion by Riedel and Roderich Stintzing , Röpke was appointed associate professor in 1910. On April 1, 1912, he became the chief surgeon at the Barmen Municipal Hospital . From 1914 to 1917 Röpke served as a medical officer in the German Army . 1933 Röpke joined the Labor Party National Socialist German . In April 1933 he headed the 57th meeting of the German Society for Surgery in the Langenbeck-Virchow House in Berlin . He received cheers for his statement that the most fruitful thoughts, both in orthopedics and in the treatment of accidental injuries, had always come from surgeons and not from orthopedists or trauma surgeons. As requested by Leonardo Conti , he had rejected lecture registrations from Jewish doctors. At the beginning of the congress he asked “all the speakers to resign, as has in part already happened, whose appearance here in the face of today's national currents could cause unrest or disaffection; because the calm course of our conference and the dignity of the German Society for Surgery precedes everything else. ”Reich President Paul von Hindenburg and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler received addresses of devotion, and the Reich Chancellor also received birthday wishes. Since 1934 chief medical officer of the Reichswehr , he was called up to the army (Wehrmacht) on August 24, 1939 . In Wuppertal, Röpke was retired on November 1, 1938, but continued to work as chief physician with a private service contract. On July 15, 1945, shortly before his 72nd birthday, Röpke resigned from hospital service for good. Less than three months later he died. At the funeral service, Hans Bremme spoke for the city of Wuppertal. He was buried in Emsland.

Röpke was married to Irmgard born on March 26, 1906 . Kniep (1883-1954). The marriage had four children: Wolfgang (* 1906), Gerda (* 1908), Hans-Burkhard (* 1915) and Almuth (* 1919).

Honors

• Chairman of the Association of Lower Rhine-Westphalian Surgeons (1928/29)
• President of the German Society for Surgery

literature

• Prof. Dr. med. Wilhelm Konrad Röpke (1873–1945) , in: DGCH 1933–1945: The Presidents . Kaden Verlag , Heidelberg 2011.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Berthold Ohm (Ed.): Addendum to the address directory of the old gentlemen of the German Landsmannschaft. Hamburg 1932, p. 16.
2. ↑ Dissertation: About Thiersch's transplantations .
3. ↑ Habilitation thesis: The importance of trauma for the development of carcinomas and sarcomas is illuminated using the material from the surgical clinic in Jena .