Fritz Dross – författare

Integrating academic disciplines from medical history to philology and Jewish studies, this book aims at answering this question historically by presenting comprehensive coverage of Jewish medical traditions in Central Eastern Europe, mostly on what is today Poland and Germany (and the former Russian, Prussian and Austro-Hungarian Empires).

Is ‘Jewish medicine’ a valid historical category? Does it represent a collective constituted by the interplay of medical, ethnic and religious cultures? Integrating academic disciplines from medical history to philology and Jewish studies, this book aims at answering this question historically by presenting  comprehensive coverage of Jewish medical traditions in Central Eastern Europe, mostly on what is today Poland and Germany (and the former Russian, Prussian and Austro-Hungarian Empires). In this significant zone of ethnic, religious and cultural interaction, Jewish, Polish, and German traditions and communities were more entangled, and identities were shared to an extent greater than anywhere else. Starting with early modern times and the Enlightenment, through the 19th century, up until the horrors of medicine in the ghettos and concentration camps, the book collects a variety of perspectives on the question of how Judaism and Jewish culture were dynamically related to medicine and healthcare. It discusses the Halachic traditions, hygiene-related stereotypes, the organization of healthcare within specified communities, academic careers, hybrid medical identities, and diversified medical practices.

Medizin und Sprache – die Sprache der Medizin lautete das Thema der 14. Tagung der Deutsch-Polnischen Gesellschaft für Geschichte der Medizin. Der Tagungsband umfasst 17 Beiträge, die aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven das Verhältnis von Sprache und Medizin thematisieren. Die Autoren diskutieren die medizinische Fachsprache als internes und externes Kommunikationsmittel hinsichtlich ihres terminologischen und pragmatischen Wandels sowie hinsichtlich ihrer Transformation in Formular-, Bild- und Zahlensprachen. Sie betrachten medizin- und sprachhistorische sowie bild- und kommunikationstheoretische Aspekte für den Zeitraum vom 14. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert.

The history of sexuality, family planning, and reproduction in Central and Eastern Europe sounds out the historical dimensions across a broad field where human biology, medicine, policy, and government social programmes intersect with fundamental conceptions of desired or feared social developments. From contraception to representations of motherhood, and controversies over reproductive rights, using the example of the historically changing political, social, cultural and scientific interconnections in Central and Eastern Europe the contributors to this volume invite reflections on historical developments that open new perspectives for the 21st century.