The Nachlass (estate) of Heinrich von Eggeling (1869–1954), long-time secretary of the Anatomische Gesellschaft

Abstract

Heinrich von Eggeling (1869–1954), professor of anatomy in Breslau from 1922, was secretary of the Anatomische Gesellschaft (AG) from 1919 until 1949 and also editor of the Anatomischer Anzeiger, today's Annals of Anatomy. His “Wissenschaftlicher Nachlass [scientific estate]” could recently be located in private hands and has now been made available at the archive of the AG held by the current secretary. It consists of 45 folders, mainly containing von Eggeling's national and international correspondence from 1919 to 1953. It thus covers the times of the Weimar republic and of the “Third Reich” as well as the post-war period, when the AG had been officially closed down by the Allied Control Council and was eventually re-founded in 1949. Von Eggeling preserved this material despite war destruction of his Berlin home, where he lived after his retirement in 1935, and his cramped post-war confines in a small town near Hannover. The estate also includes autobiographical manuscripts of von Eggeling and some material from his predecessor, the first secretary of the AG since 1886, Karl von Bardeleben (1849–1918). There is evidence that the correspondence is not complete, even if there are no significant time gaps. The contents suggest that letters deemed insignificant, like fee reminders or editorial decisions, were discarded at some point, but it remains unclear by whom. This estate fills a significant gap in the historical material related to the AG and will be an important source for any future historical investigation regarding the society.