From 1957 to 1961, Josef Stralau was Head of the Health Department in the Federal Ministry of the Interior and, after the Federal Ministry of Health was founded in 1961, head of Department I, which is responsible for health policy. medical dr phil. Hans Harmsen received the BVÖGD Johann Peter Frank Medal. The medal is awarded for services to the public health system in Germany.
At the time Josef Stralau received the Johann Peter Frank Medal, he was considered a personality who had made a contribution to public health in Germany. This may be illustrated by two other honors: Stralau was appointed professor in 1969 by the then Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, Hans Filbinger (the “terrible lawyer”). When he was appointed, his merits in the field of social hygiene and public health were highlighted (Deutsches Ärzteblatt 43; 1969). In 1973 Stralau received the Federal Cross of Merit.
In the meantime, medical-historical research has proven that Josef Stralau was actively and passively involved in the medical crimes of National Socialism during his time at the Oberhausen health department. This applies both to the initiation of forced sterilizations and – here presumably only in passive participation – to euthanasia murders. In 1989, murders of children from the Oberhausen St Vincenzhaus under the supervision of the Oberhausen Health Department were also the subject of a preliminary investigation by the Dortmund public prosecutor’s office.
Details on Stralau’s involvement in the National Socialist medical crimes and an assessment of his attitude to the National Socialist hereditary health policy are documented for the first time in the publication of the project funded by the Federal Ministry of Health on the basis of a decision by the German Bundestag on the early years of the Federal Ministry of Health (Kreller L, Kuschel F: Vom ‘Volkskörper’ on the individual (Göttingen 2022, especially p. 176 ff).
Against this background, the extended Federal Executive Board of the BVÖGD passed the following resolution:
“Based on more recent expert knowledge, it must be considered proven that Prof. Dr. medical Josef Stralau was significantly involved in racial ideological procedures and decisions during the Nazi era and later did not recognisably distance himself from them.
The extended Federal Executive Board of the BVÖGD expressly stated in a resolution of April 13, 2023 that this former honor of the late Prof. Dr. medical Josef Stralau would not have taken place under today’s knowledge and standards. During his lifetime, Prof. Dr. medical Josef Stralau was deprived of the Johann Peter Frank Medal after his function in the Nazi regime became known.
The BVÖGD clearly distances itself from the atrocities of the Nazi regime, which were also carried out with and by the public health service at the time.”
The decision fits into the efforts of the association to come to terms with the past of the ÖGD under National Socialism. At the end of April it was communicated to the delegates’ meeting of the BVÖGD, the further procedure is still ongoing.
Stralau is not a role model for doctors in the public health service in a professional association that is committed to human dignity protected by the Basic Law and socio-medical responsibility for the weakest in society.
Even the eugenicist Hans Harmsen, Stralau’s co-prizewinner, would certainly no longer be honored today. Unlike Stralau, however, he rejected euthanasia and the killing of the sick and, after the war, took a critical look at his past.
The Robert Koch Foundation, which Stralau was still on the list of honorary members at the beginning of 2023, has also reacted to the new findings of Kreller & Kuschel – here by deleting it from the list of honorary members. I don’t know if there are other honors from Stralau that are still active.
Some might dismiss such things as belated symbolic politics, I think they are important. The ÖGD fulfills population medical tasks and in this field of tasks it is always important to balance the tension between public interest and individual rights. This was also constantly discussed during the Corona crisis, with good and less good arguments, and the current calls for a “real processing” of the crisis are not least based on the experience of this area of tension.
Following the experiences with the National Socialist medical crimes, respect for human dignity marks an ultimate borderline for Public. The “Mission statement for a modern ÖGD” adopted in 2018, which aims to strengthen the public health orientation of the ÖGD, has therefore deliberately addressed the ethical obligation of the ÖGD. This must not be thwarted by false “role models”.
At the annual meeting of the BVÖGD at the end of April, the founding of a scientific society of the ÖGD was decided. A code of ethics for doctors of the ÖGD, in concretization of the ÖGD mission statement, the Helsinki declaration and the ethical requirements of the medical professional code, should not be missing from the task list of the new professional association.