Political follower or loyal National Socialist? : On the role of former DGP President Herbert Siegmund (1892-1954) in the Third Reich.

BACKGROUND

Herbert Siegmund (1892-1954) was undoubtedly one of the most influential German pathologists of the 20th century. He received numerous high honors both during the Third Reich and after 1945. He was, among other things, rector of the University of Münster (1943-1945), holder of the Goethe Medal awarded by Hitler (1944), honorary doctor of the University of Cologne (1949), recipient of the Paracelsus Medal (1953), and president of the German Society for Pathology (DGP, 1954). The almost seamless post-war career was possible above all because Siegmund was counted among the politically uninvolved university physicians after 1945. It was not until after the turn of the millennium that this picture cracked.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The article is based on primary sources from the State Archives of Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia, the University Archives of Münster, the Federal Archives of Berlin, the University Archives of Cologne, and the City Archives of Stuttgart, some of which were evaluated for the first time. Two questions are at the center of this article: (1) To what extent can it be proven that Siegmund benefited from the Nazi state in terms of his career after 1933? (2) Are there indications that he served the Nazi regime and its networks? In addition, we will discuss how Siegmund himself described his role in the Third Reich and whether his statements stand up to critical scrutiny.

RESULTS

The paper concludes that Siegmund contributed to valorizing the Nazi system. After 1945, he did not position himself at a critical distance from his activities in the Third Reich; rather, he drew of himself - largely unopposed - the image of a politically blameless scholar.