Dermatopathology in Strasbourg during the German Occupation (1940–1945)

Abstract

IntroductionThe activity of the Strasbourg Dermatology Clinic was interrupted in September 1939 by the outbreak of the Second World War and the evacuation of the hospital. After annexing Alsace to the Reich, the German authorities demanded that physicians return to work, which resumed at the Dermatology Clinic, and was now entirely Germanized, in particular the laboratory of dermatopathology. Our aim was to study activity in the histopathology laboratory between 1939 and 1945. Material and methodsWe studied all the histopathology reports contained in three registers written in German. We collected patient data, clinical elements and diagnoses by microscopy. There were a total of 1202 cases between September 1940 and March 1945. The records were in a good state of preservation, enabling exhaustive analysis. ResultsThe number of cases peaked in 1941 and diminished thereafter. The average age of patients was 49 years, and the sex ratio was 0.77. Patients were referred from Alsace or other Reich territories; referrals from other regions of France or other countries had ceased. There were 655 cases in dermatopathology, with a predominance of tumor lesions, followed by infections and inflammatory dermatoses. We noted 547 cases of non-cutaneous diseases, mainly in gynecology, urology, and in ear, nose, throat and digestive surgery; their numbers peaked in 1940–41, then tapered off progressively. DiscussionThedisruptions associated with thewar were manifested by the use of German language and the cessation of scientific publications. The lack of general pathologists in the hospital resulted in numerous cases in general pathology. Skin biopsies were mainly diagnostic and focused on skin cancers, whereas inflammatory and infectious diseases predominated before the war. No traces of data related to unethical human experimentation were identified in these archives, in contrast to other institutes in Strasbourg that were truly Nazified. ConclusionThese data from the Strasbourg Dermatology Clinic contain valuable information for the history of medicine and provide an insight into the functioning of a laboratory under the Occupation.