Die Humangenetische Beratung in der DDR

Abstract

In recent years, the history of human genetic counseling has increasingly become the subject of research in the history of medicine and science. In this article, I examine the establishment and design of human genetic counselling in the GDR from the 1960s until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, based on archive material and medical literature of the time. The initiative for the establishment of a genetic counselling service in the GDR originated in the 1960s and can be traced back to scientists with different political backgrounds who were concerned with human genetic problems. In the 1970s and 80s, a nationwide network of human genetic counseling centers was established. They were located at either university institutions or district hospitals. Despite the centralized control, there was a considerable difference between the individual districts. Both biologists and doctors practiced genetic counselling in the GDR. With their focus on single individuals or families and their rejection of any kind of coercion, human geneticists set themselves apart from the eugenic practices of the Nazi era. Nevertheless, they did not completely ignore population-genetic objectives, as was the case in the FRG. Human genetic counseling in the GDR did not differ from other, even non-socialist, states in its objectives, namely to prevent the birth of handicapped children and to promote the birth of healthy children. This intent was not prescribed by the state, but it reflected a social attitude that equated disability with suffering.