[The Karl-Sudhoff-Institute in Leipzig and the academic discipline history of medicine in the GDR].

Developmental trends, focus of research and the methods by which work in the field of the History of Medicine was organised in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) is presented through the example of the Karl Sudhoff Institute in Leipzig, the largest Institute for the study of the History of Medicine in the GDR. The article follows the succession of the Directors, and includes, in addition to descriptions of research and publishing activities, appendices on the work of the Society for the History of Medicine in the German Democratic Republic as well as the historical medical collections.