How the Anatomische Gesellschaft excluded unwanted members after 1945-among them Eugen Fischer and Max Clara.

The Anatomische Gesellschaft, an international Germany-based association of anatomists, was closed down in 1945, after the end of the "Third Reich". It was eventually re-founded in 1949, continuing its tradition from its foundation in 1886, based in large part on the membership prior to 1945. Newly available archival material reveals, however, that at least six members were explicitly prevented from re-joining the society. This includes Max Clara, who was accused of plagiarism and, at least implicitly, of basing his career on Nazi party support. It also includes Eugen Fischer, a leading anthropologist of the Nazi period, who was seen to be indirectly responsible for Nazi crimes like forced sterilisation or extermination of "anthropologically defined" groups of people. Therefore, Fischer's honorary membership, which had already been published in the membership directory, was revoked after a heated internal debate. Nevertheless, these exclusions cannot be interpreted as a self-directed "denazification" of the Anatomische Gesellschaft, as political activity in line with the Nazis was not the main criterion for these exclusions. Incidentally, the archival sources also reveal that Wolfgang Bargmann, who had been elected as the first post-war secretary of the Gesellschaft in 1949, resigned from this post after only one year in office because his management of this "Fischer affair" was felt to be too autocratic.