PDF herunterladen
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2021; 79(01): 84-87
DOI: 10.1590/0004-282X-anp-2020-0274
HISTORICAL NOTES

The controversial Third Reich history of Hans Creutzfeldt: was he a supporter or just another adept of the “hand washing policy”?

A controversa história do terceiro reich de Hans Creutzfeldt: seria ele um apoiador ou apenas outro adepto da "política de lavagem das mãos"?
Paulo Eduardo Mestrinelli CARRILHO 
1   Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná, Faculdade de Medicina, Cascavel PR, Brazil.
,
Ricardo NITRINI 
2   Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Medicina, Departamento de Neurologia, São Paulo SP, Brazil.
› Institutsangaben
› Weitere Informationen
Auch verfügbar auf
   Lizenzen und Reprints

ABSTRACT

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy whose initial description is associated with two German authors, Alfons Maria Jakob and Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt. As polemic as the issue about the Creutzfeldt’s merit in the first description of the disease, is his history during the Third Reich. Some evidence pointed to the idea that he was essentially against the Nazi ideology, though some did not. He was an official member of the SS, but his own wife was convicted by a Nazi court. Some authors have argued that Creutzfeldt helped save many patients during Aktion T4 operation, but, in fact, he could have done more. Even during the post-war period, he sent a letter to authorities reporting the name of a Nazi physician who worked as a medical reviewer at the euthanasia court, but he did not proceed any further when his letter initially failed to start an investigation.

RESUMO

A doença de Creutzfeldt-Jakob (DCJ) é uma encefalopatia espongiforme transmissível, cuja descrição original está associada ao nome de dois autores alemães, Alfons Maria Jakob e Hans Gerhard Creuztfeldt. Tão polêmica quanto a questão sobre o real mérito de Creutzfeldt na primeira descrição da doença, é sua história de vida durante o Terceiro Reich. Algumas evidências apontavam para a ideia de que ele era essencialmente contra a ideologia nazista, mas outras não. Ele foi um membro oficial da SS, mas sua própria esposa foi condenada por um tribunal nazista. Alguns autores têm argumentado que Creutzfeldt ajudou a salvar muitos pacientes durante a operação Aktion T4, mas, na verdade, ele poderia ter feito muito mais. Mesmo durante o período pós-guerra, ele enviou uma carta às autoridades revelando o nome de um médico nazista que havia se empregado como revisor médico na corte sobre eutanásia, mas ele não insistiu mais quando sua carta inicialmente não desencadeou uma investigação.

Keywords:

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome - National Socialism - History

Palavras-chave:

Síndrome de Creutzfeldt-Jakob - Socialismo Nacional - História

Authors’ contributions:

Carrilho PEM: main author and writer; Nitrini R: reviewer and corrections.




Publikationsverlauf

Eingereicht: 18. Juni 2020

Angenommen: 19. Juli 2020

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
01. Juni 2023

© 2021. Academia Brasileira de Neurologia. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commecial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Thieme Revinter Publicações Ltda.
Rua do Matoso 170, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP 20270-135, Brazil

 

  • References

  • 1 Henry R, Murphy FA. Etymologia: Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Emerg Infect Dis. 2017 Jun;23(6):956. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2306.ET2306
  • 2 Pearce JMS. Jakob-Creutzfeldt Disease. Historical Note. Eur Neurol. 2004 Nov;52(3):129-31. https://doi.org/10.1159/000081462
  • 3 Masters CL, Gajdusek DC. In: Smith WT, Cavanagh JB (eds.). Recent advances in neuropathology. v. 2. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 1982. p.139-63.
  • 4 Katscher F. It’s Jakob’s disease, not Creutzfeldt’s. Nature. 1998 May;393(6680):11. https://doi.org/10.1038/29862
  • 5 Manuelidis EE. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 1985 Jan;44(1):1-17. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005072-198501000-00001
  • 6 Triarhou LC. Alfons Maria Jakob (1884-1931), neuropathologist par excellence. Scientific endeavors in Europe and Americas. Eur Neurol. 2009 Nov;61(1):52-8. https://doi.org/10.1159/000175123
  • 7 De Muñoz PFN. À luz do biológico: psiquiatria, neurologia e eugenia nas relações Brasil-Alemanha (1900-1942). Thesis (Doctorate in History of Health Sciences). Rio de Janeiro: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz; 2015.
  • 8 Cipriani G, Dolciotti C, Pichi L, Bonucelli U. Alzheimer and his disease: a brief history. Neurol Sci. 2011 Apr;32(2):275-9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-010-0454-7
  • 9 Wolf JH, Foley P. Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt (1885-1964): a life in neuropathology. J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2005 Aug;112(8):I-XCVII. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-005-0288-2
  • 10 Lifton RJ. The Nazi doctors: medical killing and the psychology of genocide. New York: Basic Books, Inc., Publishers; 1986.
  • 11 Strous RD, Edelman MC. Eponyms and the Nazi era: time to remember and time for change. Isr Med Assoc J. 2007 Mar;9(3):207-14.
  • 12 Zeidman LA. Neuroscience In Nazi Europe Part Ii. Can J Neurol Sci. 2011 Nov;38(6):826-38. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0317167100012397
  • 13 Kondziella D. Thirty neurological eponyms associated with the Nazi era. Eur Neurol. 2009 Jun;62(1):56-64. https://doi.org/10.1159/000215880
  • 14 Kondziella D, Zeidman LA. What's in a name? Neurological eponyms of the Nazi era. Front Neurol Neurosci. 2016 Apr;38:184-200. https://doi.org/10.1159/000442683
  • 15 Illert M, Schmidt M. Hans Gerhardt Creutzfeldt (1885-1964) in the Third Reich. A reevaluation. Neurology 2020 Jun;95:72-76. doi:10.1212/WNL.20200274202002749785
  • 16 Proctor RN. Racial hygiene: medicine under the Nazis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard College; 1988.
  • 17 Shoah Resource Center, The International School for Holocaust Studies. Available from: http://www.yadvashem.org