[Internal medicine in German-speaking countries and in the USA. Mutual influences and changes in relations 1870 to 1990].

Scientific relations in Internal Medicine between German-speaking countries and the United States were characterized by various stages during the last hundred and twenty years. From 1870 to the First World War German medical research and teaching as well as the competitive German university system were regarded as a model for US Medical Schools. After World War I, however, things changed as a result of American Medical Schools' reforms which had been implemented. On the other hand, financial equipment of German universities was decreasing due to inflation and unemployment. Furthermore, between 1933 and 1945, many excellent scientists and clinicians were forced to emigrate from Germany and Austria to the US because of persecution by the Nazis for political or "racial" reasons. After the end of World War II, scientific and technical leadership of American Internal Medicine remained unchallenged; today many European physicians complete their training in the biomedical sciences in the United States. Beginning in the 1980s, German-speaking internists increasingly publish the results of their research in American scientific journals.