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  • Title: [Heinrich Pette (1887-1964) and the difficult assessment of his role from the Weimar Republic to the Federal Republic of Germany].
    Author: Martin M, Karenberg A, Fangerau H.
    Journal: Nervenarzt; 2020 Feb; 91(Suppl 1):35-42. PubMed ID: 32067084.
    Abstract:
    For a long time, biographical sketches and obituaries have focused on Pette's instantly recognizable scientific contributions to German neurology and neurovirology; however, they often ignored or marginalized his role as vice-president of the Society of German Neurologists and Psychiatrists (GDNP) during the Nazi era. Recent investigations and reports based on newly discovered records question such one-sided assessments and paint a contradictory picture. Pette joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) and the NS Medical Association in 1933 and in the same year signed the "vow of allegiance of the professors to Adolf Hitler and the National Socialistic State". In 1934 he succeeded Nonne as professor for neurology in Hamburg and from 1935 headed the neurological branch of the NS-controlled Society of German Neurologists and Psychiatrists (GDNP). As a result, Pette had a strong influence on all activities of this organization and had contact with party leadership and the government. In principle, he was not opposed to the "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring" and produced various expert reports addressed to the Appellate Hereditary Health Court in Hamburg. Simultaneously, he advocated differentiated diagnostics and rejected hasty sterilizations. He seems to have been acquainted with the "euthanasia" program and concomitant research projects but was not involved in them. During and after a lengthy denazification trial he stylized himself into a nonpolitical scientist representing an "oppositional attitude". In 1950 he was co-founder of the German Neurological Society (DGN) and was president until 1952 and then honorary president. Since 1969 the DGN awards the Heinrich Pette Prize. The Foundation for Research in Spinal Poliomyelitis founded by him shortly after WWII was named after him after his death. Since 2011 it bears the name "Heinrich Pette Institute, Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology". In future, a prudent dealing with this ambivalent legacy seems to be advisable.
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