Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 188-189. (Budapest, 2004)
KÖZLEMÉNYEK - COMMUNICATIONS - Kóczián, Mária - Kölnei, Lívia: The struggle of Gustav Schimert for the revival of homeopathy in Hungary(1908-1944).-Schimert Gusztáv küzdelme a magyar homeopátia újjáélesztéséért (1908-1944)
The first section's lectures were about the history of homeopathy. The second section's topic was the theory and the clinical practice of homeopathy in general. The third section was devoted to the special aspects of the theory and practice of homeopathy. In the fourth section participants concentrated on the side practices of medicine and pharmacology. Schimert published the texts of lectures in German. The congress meant the pick of Schimert's work. He was ackowledged enough to become the organizer of the 10 th . Congress of International Homeopathic Medical League. The fact that homeopathy played a significant role in the 19 century Hungary resulted in the country hosting this event. Schimert attempted to popularize Hungarian homeopathy abroad. With his help Melitta Schmideberg wrote a detailed study on the history of Hungarian homeopathy in German, wich was published in the Allgemeine Homöopathische Zeitung, in 1930. By the 1930s Schimert achieved the following results: - he trained a new generation of Hungarian homeopaths, - he founded reliable homeopathic pharmacies, - he run successfuly the homeopathic ward of Elisabeth Hospital of Cooperatives, - Published homeopathic books and periodicals in German and in Hungarian - he convinced many patients to use homeopathy, - he built up international homeopathic contacts. He hoped that these enormous results would establish a blooming period in Hungarian homeopathy. The antipropaganda against homeopathy however didn't cease even after the congress. The most popular medical reviews, like the Gyógyászat or the Orvosi Hetilap didn't mention at all the congress. Homeopathy was met with silence from the academic medicine. Gustav Schimert published one of his medical books in German, in 1936. (Neue Möglichkeiten zur Deutung der Simile-Regel - New ways to interprète the Simile-Law). No works of his were published on homeopathy between this year and 1944. On the other hand he wrote many books on religion during this period. Gustav Schimert had such a large practice in the 1930s that he wasn't able to manage it on his own. His practice was always crammed with patients. His sons helped him. Schimert and his wife, Margit Antal - daughther of a well known physician- brought up five sons. All of them became physicians, only two of them however practised homeopathy. Schimert's influence on his sons was immense. As they all helped their father in his practice, they got familiar with homeopathy. His most famous son János Szentágothai, a professor of anatomy, used homeopathic methods and drugs in his private life. The first born son, Gustav was a general practitioner, a cardiologist and a homeopath. He studied in Germany and settled down there. He was the head of an institute of cardiology in Munich. The fourth son, Arndt was a general practitioner, a radiologist and a homeopath. He took over his father's practice after the World War II, and worked as a homeopath in Budapest up to 1956, when he emigrated from Hungary. The siege of Budapest seemed to be unavoidable by the end of 1944. Being the Schimert family's native tongue German, they were afraid of retorsions and deportation. Therefore they decided to leave Hungary on their own accord in November of 1944. Schimert and his wife settled down in Stuttgart, in Germany. The doctor's practice was flourishing up to 1948, when he developed a bowels- and gastric haemorrhage. After the first attack of the illness he never wholely recovered. He passed away in August in 1955. The cause of his death was gastric haemorrhage. The Stuttgart period of Schimert has never been written up.
