Clinical Anatomy 19:91–100 (2006) REVIEW How the Pernkopf Controversy Facilitated a Historical and Ethical Analysis of the Anatomical Sciences in Austria and Germany: A Recommendation for the Continued Use of the Pernkopf Atlas SABINE HILDEBRANDT* Division of Anatomical Sciences, Office of Medical Education, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan Eduard Pernkopf’s Topographical Anatomy of Man has been a widely used standard work of anatomy for over sixty years. International inquiries about the National Socialist (NS) political background of Eduard Pernkopf and the use of bodies of NS victims for the atlas were first directed at the University of Vienna in 1996. A public discussion about the fur- ther use of the book followed and led to the creation of the Senatorial Project of the Uni- versity of Vienna in 1997. This historical research project confirmed the strong NS affilia- tion of Pernkopf and revealed the delivery of at least 1,377 bodies of executed persons to the Anatomical Institute of Vienna during the NS time. The possible use of these bodies as models cannot be excluded for up to half of the approximately 800 plates in the atlas. In addition tissue specimens from NS victims were found and removed from the collec- tions of the Viennese Medical School and received a burial in a grave of honor. The Pern- kopf controversy facilitated the historical and ethical analysis of the anatomical sciences in Austria and Germany during the NS regime. The continued use of the Pernkopf atlas is not only justifiable but desirable as a tool in the teaching of anatomy, history, and ethics. Clin. Anat. 19:91–100, 2006. VC 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Key words: NS history of German and Austrian anatomy; body acquisition; ethics in anatomy INTRODUCTION party member (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter- partei) and it was suspected that the victims of a crimi- Eduard Pernkopf’s Topographische Anatomie des Men- nal regime, which was ruling Austria from 1938 to schen (Topographical Anatomy of Man) has been widely 1945, were used for illustrations. used by students of anatomy since the publication of The question at the center of the Pernkopf contro- its first volume in 1937 (second volume 1942, third versy can be formulated as whether it is ethically justi- volume 1952, fourth volume 1956–1957, 1961; Wil- fiable to continue using the Pernkopf atlas, knowing liams, 1988) and the publication of the American edi- that the work is tainted not only by being the creation tion in 1963 (Pernkopf, 1963). It stands out among similar works of anatomy for its intricacy and ‘‘regional stratigraphic’’ approach (Pernkopf, 1943), meaning *Correspondence to: Dr. Sabine Hildebrandt, Division of Anatom- ical Sciences, Office of Medical Education, University of Michigan multiple layers of dissection with an emphasis on fas- Medical School, 3767 Medical Science Building II, Catherine cia shown and reflected, approaching the subject from Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0608. superficial to deep dissection in great detail. However, E-mail: [email protected] over the years inquiries have been made into the Received 31 August 2005; Revised 24 October 2005; Accepted 8 political background of Pernkopf and the illustrators November 2005 of the atlas as well as into the source of the human Published online 19 January 2006 in Wiley InterScience (www. bodies depicted. Pernkopf was an active NSDAP interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ca.20272 VC 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. 92 Hildebrandt of scientists and artists who were ardent followers of a Pernkopf joined a nationalistic German student frater- criminal regime, but also by the fact that these scien- nity, Die akademische Burschenschaft Allemania. Pern- tists may have been using the bodies of the victims of kopf became NS party member in 1933 and joined the Nazi regime for their endeavors. the SA (Sturmabteilung ¼ stormtroopers) less than a The dilemma is made even more poignant by the year later. He was made director of the Second Anat- fact that Pernkopf’s atlas was and still is a very fine omy Institute of Vienna in 1933. The Viennese Anat- tool for anatomists and thus represents a rare example omy Institute had been divided into two departments of Nazi medical scientists producing scientifically sig- in 1870. Anatomy 1, which was more systematically nificant work (Riggs, 1998). In other medical fields, and clinically oriented, was led by liberal-democratic especially genetics and ‘‘race hygiene,’’ NS scientific minded Jewish scientists until 1936, during Pern- effort produced irrelevant results easily dismissible as kopf’s tenure by Julius Tandler. The chairmen of an amalgam of science and pseudoscience (Propping, Anatomy 2 tended towards nationalism and anti-Semi- 1992; Mueller-Hill, 2004), so that an ethical question tism. During the 1920s and 1930s violent battles were about their use does not even need to arise. However, fought between students from the two departments. anatomy and areas of public health and cancer In 1938 Anatomy 1 and 2 were reunited under the research, as pointed out by Proctor (2000), make a chairmanship of Pernkopf (Angetter, 1999). Williams detailed discussion of the use of Nazi scientific data describes Pernkopf as an obsessive worker and necessary. demanding supervisor, who developed his dissection and ‘‘imaging’’ techniques with the artisits early in his professional career, establishing a personal routine of PERNKOPF’S LIFE AND MIND 18 hr work days that later focused completely on the An obituary written by his student and postwar suc- atlas (Williams, 2004). cessor, as Director of the Second Anatomy Institute in He was promoted to Dean of the Medical Faculty Vienna, Hayek (1955), sums up Eduard Pernkopf’s in April 1938, a few weeks after the Anschluss (the life: he was born on 24 November 1888 in Rapotten- integration of Austria into Nazi Germany, 13 March stein near Zwettl, Austria, as the son of a physician 1938), and was Rektor Magnificus (president) of the and received his medical degree from the Vienna University of Vienna from 1943 to 1945. After the war Medical School in 1912. As a third year medical stu- he spent three years in an Allied prison camp but was dent he started work as an anatomical demonstrator then stripped of his titles and appointments, and for Professor Ferdinand Hochstetter, director of the allowed to return to the University of Vienna to con- Second Anatomy Institute of Vienna, who subse- tinue work on the atlas. Articles by him continued to quently made him his assistant. Research on the be published by the Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift (e.g., development of the gastrointestinal tract was the basis Pernkopf, 1955a,b), the journal whose editorial board for his promotion to full professor in 1929, at that time he had joined in 1938 (Weissmann, 1985). he had already started work on his topographical atlas. In his first lecture (Pernkopf, 1938) as Dean of the In 1933 he succeeded Hochstetter as director of the Medical Faculty in the new German Reich (6 April Second Anatomy Institute. Hayek mentioned that 1938), Pernkopf expressed his gratefulness towards Pernkopf, after becoming dean of the Medical Faculty Adolf Hitler, whom he called the e´migre´ son of Aus- in 1938 and later as rector, resisted commands for tria, for the integration of Austria into the German adaptation from Berlin. In what Hayek called Pern- Reich. He proclaimed the new goal of the Medical kopf’s ‘‘retirement,’’ after the end of the Second School as the education of German, i.e., National World War in a destroyed Vienna, he was offered Socialist doctors, and explained that National Social- rooms by members of the medical faculty to continue ism was not just an idea but also a Weltanschauung the work on his atlas. He died from a stroke on 7 April (view of the world, conviction) that influenced and 1955. In conclusion Hayek praised Pernkopf as a lover transcended science and allowed its application in of music and composer of an unpublished symphonic actual deeds. He declared that a science that was drama, a great teacher, researcher, and human being. marked by foreign, destructive, and ‘‘liberalistic’’ Hayek did not mention Pernkopf’s political back- influences, and that invited chaos and promoted l’art ground at all, an omission typical for the postwar pour l’art in music and the arts, and science for scien- atmosphere in Germany and Austria (Mitscherlich ce’s sake performed by vain and self-promoting scien- and Mitscherlich, 1967; Neugebauer, 1998a; Wunder, tists had come to an end. Instead he proposed a sci- 2000). Williams (1988) provided some insight after ence of order, plan, direction, goal, and purpose: to studying Pernkopf’s Curriculum Vitae of 1940. With serve life in general, the life of the individual and of his enrollment in the Vienna Medical school in 1907 the entire people. Specifically applied this Weltan- The Continuing Impact of the Pernkopf Debate 93 schauung would allow the anatomical sciences to history of 1938 and medical history specifically led explain human variation through the concepts of con- Weissmann (1985) to the political changes at the stitution and race (in his postwar writings he still held Vienna Medical School and its then new dean, Eduard on to this concept of variation but replaced the term Pernkopf, as documented in the Wiener Klinische ‘‘race’’ with the word ‘‘Menschengruppe,’’ i.e., group of Wochenschrift (Viennese Clinical Weekly Journal) of human beings, Pernkopf, 1955a). Pernkopf further that year. Weissmann translated and commented on demanded a new curriculum that included racial phys- passages of Pernkopf’s first lecture as dean that iology, psychology, pathology, and racial genetics. showed Pernkopf as an avid National Socialist. Thus trained, the new doctor would be able to practi- In 1988, the first detailed investigation into the cally apply his knowledge in such areas as sports, background of the creation of Pernkopf’s atlas was occupational and family counseling, paternity and published by David J.