pernkopf anatomy

1933–1953: Eduard Pernkopf’s Atlas— “a tainted beauty”

Eduard Pernkopf’s Atlas of Topographical and Applied Human Anatomy has been called “a tainted beauty.” The atlas consists of 800 exquisite watercolor paintings of human anatomy, and is considered a “masterpiece,” “a work of lasting scientific importance” that has been used by doctors and researchers around the world. But the Atlas is haunted by the murdered bodies of human beings who had not consented, neither to their murder or to be used as specimens for research or “models” for scientific illustration.
文件:范例.jpg
Dr. Eduard Pernkopf (1888–1955) was an ardent, politically active Austrian-Nazi; the signatures of the artists who painted the illustrations in his atlas include Nazi insignia.

His first action in his capacity as dean of the medical school at the University of Vienna, Pernkopf expelled all Jews from the faculty — 153 of the 197 faculty members, among them, three Nobel Laureates. Some of these were deported to concentration camps like Theresienstadt and Dachau, in which only a few survived. Others committed suicide and the fate of others are unknown. In his official speech to his selectively chosen faculty, Pernkopf reminded them of their professional duty “of eliminating the genetically unfit and defective . . . by sterilization and other means” (Ruiz. Pernkopf Anatomy Atlas, 2007).

The source of Pernkopf’s Atlas illustrations was the macabre spoils of Nazi murder; the slaughtered bodies of men, women and children. He began writing the meticulous text of the Atlas in 1933, collecting and dissecting human bodies that had been murdered by the Nazis; overseeing the avowedly Nazi artists who painted the intricate details even incorporated Nazi iconography into the illustrations. The 1964 two-volume English-language edition included the original signatures including the Nazi symbols. In subsequent editions all but two of the Nazi insignia and swastika have been carefully airbrushed out in later editions when Nazi connections were no longer appreciated (Seidelman. Medicine and Murder, 1999).

The first detailed investigation into the creation of Pernkopf’s atlas was by David Williams, Professor of Medical Illustration (the School of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University), and an admirer of the atlas’ esthetics, who found evidence of its Nazi background. His article was published in 1988 (Hildebrandt, 2006). The third English Edition of the atlas (1990, in which the tell-tale traces of the Nazi derivation have been air-brushed) received glowing reviews in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) with no mention of its Nazi association or any ethical problems to be considered.

Indeed, Richard Snell, M.D., Ph.D. (George Washington University), the author of the NEJM review hailed the atlas as an “outstanding book of great value to anatomists and surgeons. It is in a class of its own and will continue to be valued as a reference work.” Not a word was mentioned about its Nazi association or ethical problems or considerations. Indeed, the only criticism expressed by Dr. Snell was “its prohibitive cost . . . [which] makes it unsuitable for purchase by medical students.” Since 1990, the editors of JAMA have subsequently published several articles criticizing the ethics of using of Pernkopf’s atlas without acknowledging its criminal roots and history. In sharp contrast, the editors of the NEJM have not seen fit to allow critics to debate the murderous Nazi roots of the atlas in its pages.

However, the long-buried history of Nazi-era anatomy continues to surface even now, because of the efforts of third-generation generation students and scholars who have waged moral confrontations demanding full access to the documents and disclosure of victims’ remains, their proper burial and ultimately they want to memorialize the victims.

Following Dr. Edzard Ernst’s, revelations in the Annals of Internal Medicine (1995) about the source of Pernkopf’s “models,” Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Authority in Israel) requested that the Universities of Vienna and Insbruck conduct an independent inquiry to determine who the subjects in Pernkopf’s Atlas were and how they died. The request from Yad Vashem was initially denied; but the issue did not end. The following year, a letter by Dr. Seidelman and Dr. Howard Israel, an oral surgeon at Columbia University published in JAMA (November, 1996) in which they stated: “The abuses of medicine perpetrated during the Hitler regime pervaded the entire medical profession of the Third Reich including the academic elite. One legacy of the tragic era endures today through the continued publication of a critically acclaimed atlas, Pernkopf Anatomy…” Their letter prompted a report by the New York Times (1996).

In 1997, Alfred Ebenbauer, the rector of the University of Vienna, wrote to JAMA indicating that an investigation had been initiated and that preliminary findings indicated that the anatomy department had indeed, routinely received corpses of executed persons, among them renowned dissidents, and “brain preparations derived from children under the euthanasia program in psychiatric institutes were still stored there…” For the first time, he acknowledged publicly systematic suppression and even denial of the university’s Nazi past and its failure to conduct relevant investigations. Ebenbauer explained that this attitude had changed because of ‘‘increasing pressure from abroad’’ and a new political atmosphere in Austria (Ethics and Access…Pernkopf atlas, Bulletin of the Medical Library Association 2001; Hildebrandt, 2006).

Penkopf_Atlas Human Anatomy_neck-shoulderThe final report of University of Vienna investigation found that at least 1,377 bodies of executed victims (guillotined or shot by the Gestapo at a rifle range); about 7,000 bodies of fetuses and children; and “8 victims of Jewish origin” had been received by the Anatomy Institute. A statement for users of Pernkop’s Atlas sent out by the U of V to all libraries states: “it is therefore within the individual user’s ethical responsibility to decide whether and in which way he wishes to use this book.” (Hildebrandt, 2006). Hildebrandt states: “the influx of bodies from executions increased so much during the NS [Nazi] regime that the rooms of the anatomy institute were sometimes overfilled and executions had to be postponed because of this.” However, she notes that the true numbers are not known because of incomplete documentation.

Howard M. Spiro, M.D., director of Yale’s Program for Humanities in Medicine and professor of internal medicine, was among the noted speakers at the convocation in Vienna marking (1998) the 60th anniversary of the dismissal of Jewish faculty members from the Vienna Medical School. In his address The Silence of Words, Dr. Spiro said, [pullquote]“the things that we avoid and don’t talk about are the matters that mean the most to us.[/pullquote] The shame that has no vent in words makes other organs weep.” Dr. Spiro acknowledged that current officials of the University of Vienna are attempting to recover information that has either been hidden or destroyed and trying to locate former faculty who were interned and exiled. “There is a new generation that has taken over, and they are not afraid to look into these atrocities.”

It is now understood that many of the incredibly detailed illustrations in Pernkopf’s atlas depicted the bodies of victims of Nazi terror.

爱德华·佩恩科普夫（Eduard Pernkopf）的《地形与应用人体解剖学地图集》（Atlas of Topographic and Applied Human Anatomy）被称为"一种受污染的美丽"。该地图集由800幅精美的人体解剖学水彩画组成，被认为是"杰作"，"具有持久科学重要性的作品"，已被世界各地的医生和研究人员使用。但是，阿特拉斯被谋杀的人类尸体所困扰，他们既不同意谋杀他们，也没有被用作研究标本或科学插图的"模型"。

爱德华·佩恩科普夫博士（1888-1955）是一位狂热的、政治上活跃的奥地利纳粹分子。在他的地图集中绘制插图的艺术家的签名包括纳粹徽章。

作为维也纳大学医学院院长，Pernkopf的第一个行动是将所有犹太人逐出教职员工 - 197名教职员工中的153名，其中包括三位诺贝尔奖获得者。其中一些人被驱逐到特莱西恩施塔特和达豪等集中营，只有少数人幸存下来。其他人自杀，其他人的命运不明。在他对自己精心挑选的教师的官方演讲中，Pernkopf提醒他们，他们的职业职责是"消除基因上不合适和有缺陷的......通过绝育和其他手段"（鲁伊斯。Pernkopf Anatomy Atlas， 2007）。

佩恩科普夫的阿特拉斯插图的来源是纳粹谋杀的可怕战利品;被屠杀的男人、女人和儿童的尸体。他于1933年开始撰写一丝不苟的地图集文本，收集并解剖被纳粹谋杀的人体;监督公开的纳粹艺术家，他们画了错综复杂的细节，甚至将纳粹肖像学融入插图中。1964 年的两卷本英文版包括原始签名，包括纳粹符号。在随后的版本中，除了两个纳粹徽章和纳粹标志之外，所有纳粹徽章和纳粹标志都在后来的版本中被仔细地喷出，当时纳粹的联系不再受到赞赏（Seidelman。《医学与谋杀》，1999年）。

对Pernkopf地图集创作的第一次详细调查是由医学插图教授（普渡大学兽医学院）大卫·威廉姆斯（David Williams）进行的，他是地图集美学的崇拜者，他发现了其纳粹背景的证据。他的文章发表于1988年（Hildebrandt，2006）。该地图集的第三版英文版（1990年，其中纳粹衍生物的蛛丝马迹已被空气刷过）在《美国医学会杂志》（JAMA）和《新英格兰医学杂志》（NEJM）上获得了热烈的评论，没有提到其纳粹关系或任何需要考虑的道德问题。

事实上，NEJM评论的作者Richard Snell，医学博士，博士（乔治华盛顿大学）称赞该地图集是"对解剖学家和外科医生具有重大价值的杰出书籍。它属于自己的一类，并将继续被重视为参考书。关于其纳粹协会或道德问题或考虑因素，一句话也没有提到。事实上，斯内尔博士表达的唯一批评是"其高昂的成本......[这]使它不适合医学生购买。自1990年以来，JAMA的编辑随后发表了几篇文章，批评使用Pernkopf地图集的道德规范，而不承认其犯罪根源和历史。与此形成鲜明对比的是，NEJM的编辑们认为不允许批评者在其页面中辩论地图集的凶残纳粹根源是不合适的。

然而，纳粹时代解剖学长期埋藏的历史至今仍在浮出水面，因为第三代学生和学者进行了道德对抗，要求完全获取文件和披露受害者遗体，正确埋葬他们，并最终希望纪念受害者。

继Edzard Ernst博士在《内科医学年鉴》（Annals of Internal Medicine，1995年）中关于Pernkopf"模型"来源的启示之后，Yad Vashem（以色列大屠杀管理局）要求维也纳大学和Insbruck大学进行独立调查，以确定Pernkopf地图集中的受试者是谁以及他们是如何死亡的。大屠杀纪念馆的请求最初被拒绝。但问题并没有结束。第二年，塞德尔曼博士和哥伦比亚大学口腔外科医生霍华德·以色列博士在《美国医学会杂志》（1996年11月）上发表的一封信中说："希特勒政权期间滥用药物的行为充斥着第三帝国的整个医学界，包括学术精英。这个悲惨时代的一个遗产通过继续出版广受好评的地图集《Pernkopf Anatomy》而得以延续......"他们的信促使《纽约时报》（1996年）发表了一篇报道。

1997年，维也纳大学校长阿尔弗雷德·埃本鲍尔（Alfred Ebenbauer）写信给JAMA，表示已经启动了调查，初步调查结果显示，解剖学系确实经常接收被处决者的尸体，其中包括著名的持不同政见者，并且"精神病院安乐死计划下的儿童的大脑准备仍然存放在那里......"他第一次公开承认有系统的镇压，甚至否认该大学的纳粹历史及其未能进行相关调查。埃本鲍尔解释说，由于"来自国外的压力越来越大"和奥地利的新政治氛围（道德与准入......Pernkopf 地图集，《医学图书馆协会公报》，2001 年;希尔德布兰特，2006年）。

Penkopf_Atlas 人类Anatomy_neck肩维也纳大学调查的最后报告发现，至少有1 377具被处决的受害者尸体（被盖世太保在步枪靶场被送上断头台或开枪射击）;至少有1 377具被处决的受害者的尸体（被盖世太保在步枪靶场被送上断头台或开枪射击）;至少有1 377具被处决的受害者的尸体（被盖世太保在步枪靶场被送上断头台或开枪打死）。约7，000具胎儿和儿童尸体;解剖学研究所收到了"8名犹太裔受害者"。U of V向所有图书馆发出的Pernkop's Atlas用户的一份声明指出："因此，决定他是否以及以何种方式使用这本书属于个人用户的道德责任。（希尔德布兰特，2006年）。希尔德布兰特说："在纳粹政权期间，处决的尸体涌入得如此之多，以至于解剖学研究所的房间有时人满为患，因此不得不推迟处决。然而，她指出，由于文件不完整，真实数字尚不清楚。

霍华德·M·斯皮罗（Howard M. Spiro），医学博士，耶鲁大学医学人文学科项目主任和内科教授，是维也纳纪念维也纳医学院犹太教职员工被解雇60周年（1998年）的著名发言人之一。斯皮罗博士在他的演讲《言语的沉默》中说："我们避免和不谈论的事情对我们来说是最有意义的事情。[/引用]言语上没有发泄的羞耻感让其他器官哭泣。斯皮罗博士承认，维也纳大学的现任官员正试图找回被隐藏或销毁的信息，并试图找到被拘留和流放的前教师。"有新一代接管了，他们不怕调查这些暴行。

现在人们了解到，佩恩科普夫的地图集中有许多非常详细的插图描绘了纳粹恐怖活动受害者的尸体。