Ferdinand Sauerbruch | |
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| Born | Ernst Ferdinand Sauerbruch (1875-07-03)3 July 1875 |
| Died | 2 July 1951(1951-07-02) (aged 75) |
| Known for | Sauerbruch chamber |
| Relatives | Peter Sauerbruch (son) |
| Awards | German National Prize for Art and Science 1937 |
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Ernst Ferdinand Sauerbruch (German:[ˈzaʊ.ɐˌbʁʊx]; 3 July 1875 – 2 July 1951) was aGermansurgeon. His major work was on the use of negative-pressure chambers for surgery.
Sauerbruch was born inBarmen (now a district ofWuppertal), Germany. He studiedmedicine at thePhilipps University of Marburg, theUniversity of Greifswald, theFriedrich Schiller University of Jena, and theUniversity of Leipzig, from the last of which he graduated in 1902. He went toBreslau in 1903, where he developed theSauerbruch chamber, a pressure chamber for operating on the openthorax, which he demonstrated in 1904. This invention was a breakthrough in thorax medicine and allowed heart and lung operations to take place at greatly reduced risk. As a battlefield surgeon duringWorld War I, he developed several new types of limbprostheses, which for the first time enabled simple movements to be executed with the remaining muscle of the patient.
Sauerbruch worked at theLudwig Maximilian University of Munich from 1918 to 1927 on surgical techniques anddiets for treatingtuberculosis. From 1928 to 1949, he was the head of the surgical department at theCharité inBerlin, attaining international fame for his innovative operations. Because of his experience and extraordinary skills, he quickly attained an international reputation and operated on many prominent patients. At the same time, he was well known for his uncompromising and passionate dedication to all patients independent of their social, political or ethnic backgrounds.
BeforeWorld War II, the German Government awarded Sauerbruch theGerman National Prize for Art and Science. Sauerbruch's position towards the Nazi government is still the subject of debate. In his position, he was clearly in contact with the political elite but he was never a member of theNSDAP. However, he didsupport the political objectives of the NSDAP and encouraged other scientists to join it. In 1935, PrussianMinister PresidentHermann Göring appointed him to thePrussian State Council, and he remained a member through the end of the Nazi regime.[1] He was a ferventnationalist who wanted to undo the "humiliation ofVersailles" and was keen to show off his country as an advanced and sophisticated society. While he had accepted theGerman Nationalpreis, a short-lived German alternative to the Nobel Prize, it is said he also publicly spoke out for people who were persecuted (e.g. theImpressionist painterMax Liebermann). He was part of the so-calledMittwochsgesellschaft (de) (Wednesday Society), a group of scientists that included critical voices; and after20 July 1944 he was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo because his sonPeter had ties toClaus von Stauffenberg.
In 1937, he became a member of the newly establishedReich Research Council that supported "research projects" of the SS, including experiments on prisoners in theconcentration camps. As head of the General Medicine Branch of the RRC, it was alleged that he personally approved the funds which financedAugust Hirt's experiments withmustard gas on prisoners atNatzweiler concentration camp from 1941 until 1944.[2] However, he was one of the few university professors who publicly spoke out against the NS-Euthanasia program T4.[citation needed] In 1942, he became Surgeon General to the army. In mid-September 1943, Sauerbruch was awarded theKnight's Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords. On 12 October 1945, he was charged by theAllies for having contributed to the Nazi dictatorship, but acquitted for lack of evidence.[3]
Sauerbruch continued hospital surgery throughout the whole war; his operating theatre was taken by the Red Army in 1945. Late in life, he developed dementia and was dismissed from the Charité because he continued to perform surgeries on patients, some with uncertain results. His colleagues detected the errors but were unable to stop him because of his fame and power.[4]
Sauerbruch died inEast Berlin at the age of seventy-five. He is buried atWannsee. A high school inGrossröhrsdorf inSaxony in modern Germany bears his name.[5]
Portrayals in Media
Sauerbruch's life was portrayed in the German 1954 filmSauerbruch – Das war mein Leben, which is based on his memoirsDas war mein Leben (This Was My Life), although the validity of these memoirs (written by the journalist Hans Rudolf Berndorff) is contested by Sauerbruch's discipleRudolf Nissen.
The second series of the German seriesCharité at War (TV series) depicts the workings of the Charité under Sauerbruch's leadership during World War II and the impact of the contemporary political climate on the hospital staff.
His eldest son Hans Sauerbruch (1910–1996) became a painter; he lived in Berlin, Rome and after the war inKonstanz where his son, thearchitectMatthias Sauerbruch, was born.
Sauerbruch's second son, Friedrich Sauerbruch (born 1911), was a surgeon as well. He assisted his father and was actually responsible for the termination of his father's activities at the Charité (which had become too risky due to his illness). He lived in Berlin and later in Moers.
The third sonPeter Sauerbruch (5 June 1913 – 29 September 2010) was a recipient of theKnight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 4 January 1943 as aHauptmann in thegeneral staff of the14th Panzer Division and leader of aKampfgruppe "Sauerbruch". He lived in Hamburg and Munich.
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