Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 186-187. (Budapest, 2004)

KÖZLEMÉNYEK — COMMUNICATIONS - JUTTE, Robert: The historiography of homoeopathy in Germany. — A homeopátiatörténetírás Németországban

Issues and themes in the historiography of alternative medicine in Germany since 1945: an outlook After the War the research in the history of irregular medical sects became gradually more institutionalized. In 1956 the Robert Bosch Hospital in Stuttgart established a research centre for the history of homoeopathy.

31 In the same year Heinz Henne (1923-1988), a homoeopathic physician, assumed his duty at the newly opened research institute and immediately began to impart his own historical interest to medical students and associates interested in the history of homoeopathy. Henne was not a professional historian, nevertheless medical history was not merely a hobby for him. Doing research on the history of homoeopathy was for him since 1956 first an extra job and became a full-time post in 1967. The research institute changed its name several times during his directorship, which lasted from 1956 to 1978. Henne completed the Hahnemann Archive and its special book collection. He also edited three of Hahnemann's medical case journals and published a number of books and articles on the history of homoeopathy.

32 In 1979 the Trustees of the Robert Bosch Foundation, Germany's second-largest charitable foundation, decided to reorganize the former Research Unit for Medical History as a full-fledged institute for the history of medicine headed by a professional medical historian. At present research undertaken by the Institute concentrates on two main areas, both of which have yet to become established at German universities.

33 These are the history of homoeopathy and kindred medical sects as well as the social history of medicine. To help to promote the history of homoeopathy and establish it as an area of research, the Robert Bosch Institute regularly organizes training seminars, workshops and international conferences dealing with various aspects of the history of homoeopathy.

34 Since 1994 it also coordinates an international network for the history of homoeopathy within the network programme of the European Association for the History of Medicine and Health. The Institute produces its own medico-historical journal which has a special section on the history of alternative medicine in general and the history of homoeopathy in particular. In 1996 the institute co-organized the bicentennial exhibition on the history of homoeopathy, 1796-1996, which was shown at the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in Dresden and was seen by more than eighty thousand visitors.

35 Since 2003 the Institute invites invitations for a prize for historical study on homeopathy produced outside the Institute in order to encourage further research in this area. 1 See, for instance, Heinz Henne: Das Hahnemann-Archiv im Robert-Bosch-Krankenhaus in Stuttgart. In: Sudhoffs Archiv, 1968, 52:, 166; Renate Wittern: The Robert Bosch Foundation and the establishment of the Institute for the History of Medicine. In: Clio Medica 1980/81, 15, 89-91. 2 See, for example, Heinz Flenne: Hahnemann, A physician at the dawn of a new era. Stuttgart, Hippokrates Verlag, 1977. 3 See Robert Jiitte: The Institute for the History of Medicine of the Robert Bosch Foundation. In: Homeopathy, 1995,45,no.2., 42-43. 4 Some of the conference proceedings have been published: Martin Dinges (ed): Weltgeschichte der Homöopathie, Munich, C.II. Beck, 1996; Robert Jütte, Günter B. Risse, John Woodward (eds): Culture, Knowledge and Healing: Historical Perspectives of Homeopathic Medicine in Europe and North America. Sheffield, EAUMI I-1'ublications, 1997. 5 Sigrid Heinze (ed): Homöopathie 1796-1996. Eine Heilkunde und ihre Geschichte. Berlin, Edition lit.europe, 1996.