About the Event

Pernkopf & Co – A Symposium. Anatomy During the Nazi Period and its Relevance for Today

This symposium will provide insights into the history of anatomy during the Nazi period and its present relevance. It will showcase new research on body procurement at anatomical institutes under the Nazi regime, present insights into the complicity of the anatomical sciences before, during and after the Nazi period and offer reflections on historical anatomical images derived from the bodies of Nazi victims. These images are now part of the training data for generative AI – continuing to haunt our collective anatomical gaze.

Overview

Opening remarks: Christiane Druml, Herwig Czech, Markus Müller und Wolfgang Weninger

Speakers: Sabine Hildebrandt, Claudia Krebs, Kamila Uzarczyk, Tim Goldmann, Hans-Joachim Lang; Mathias Schütz, Volker Roelcke; Shelly Rosenblum; Caroline Delétoille

Program

9:00       Welcome

Markus Müller (Rector of the Medical University of Vienna)

Christiane Druml, Herwig Czech (Institute for Ethics, Collections and History of Medicine, Medical University of Vienna)

Wolfgang Weninger (Division of Anatomy, Medical University of Vienna)

9:30       Overview: Why is Anatomy during the Nazi Period Still Relevant Today?

Sabine Hildebrandt 

10:30     Panel 1: New Studies on Anatomical Body Procurement during the Nazi Period

Chair: Sabine Hildebrandt

Kamila Uzarczyk: “Leiche zur Anatomie”: Execution Victims on Dissection Table, Anatomical Institute in Breslau 1939-1945

Tim Goldmann: The Supply of Bodies to the Erlangen Institute of Anatomy during 

National Socialism

Herwig Czech: New Research on Body Procurement at Pernkopf’s Vienna Anatomical Institute during the Nazi Period

12:00     Lunch Break

13:30     Panel 2: Pernkopf Was Not Alone: Morphological Science before, during and after the Nazi Period

Chair: Herwig Czech

Mathias Schütz: “Breathing life into anatomy”: Self-Doubt and Self-Affirmation among German anatomists before 1933

Claudia Krebs: Inside the Danzig Anatomicum: Spanner and the Making of an Anatomical Atlas, 1939–45

Hans-Joachim Lang: New Insights on Anatomist August Hirt, a Murderer

Volker Roelcke: Neuropathological Research at Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institutes in the Context of Nazi “euthanasia”, and the Max-Planck-Society’s Hesitant Responses to this Legacy

15:30     Coffee Break

16:00    Panel 3:Historical Anatomical Images and their Afterlife – Reflection on a Persistent Problem

Chair: Claudia Krebs

Shelly Rosenblum: Conditions of Seeing: Anatomical Images, Ethics and Afterlives 

Caroline Delétoille: Re-Seeing the Anatomical Image 

17:30     Closing remarks

Christiane Druml

Institute for Ethics, Collections and History of Medicine (Josephinum) and Division of Anatomy, Medical University of Vienna
In coordination with Anatomical Sciences Education, a Journal of the American Association for Anatomy
Planning committee: Claudia Krebs, Herwig Czech, Sabine Hildebrandt, Lea Riener