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The Segregating of Jewish from Non-Jewish Patients

Downgraded from Clinic Head to “Krankenbehandler”: Dr Adolph Calmann

Photo of Adolph Calmann, undated. Photographer unknown | <span class=prov>Hamburg State Archives,720-1/388-37 Epstein, Felix, No. 36.2</span>
Photo of Adolph Calmann, undated. Photographer unknown | Hamburg State Archives,720-1/388-37 Epstein, Felix, No. 36.2

Adolph Calmann (1871–1962) opened an obstetrics and gynaecology clinic in Hamburg’s Rotherbaum district in 1917. It was the largest of its kind in the city and had a large clientele of both Jewish and non-Jewish women. The KVD revoked the medical licences of all Jewish doctors in Germany, including Adolph Calmann, effective 30 September 1938. By the end of the year, he had been downgraded to a “Krankenbehandler”, a kind of medic for Jewish patients only, and his non-Jewish patients had to go find a non-Jewish doctor.

In 1940, Calmann stood trial as an alleged “abortionist”. Although he did prove his innocence, the oppression had become so intense that he decided to emigrate. Going through Haiti and Argentina, his odyssey finally brought him to Uruguay. Calmann returned to Hamburg in 1954.

<b>“Our goal cannot lie in filling up the waiting rooms of German doctors with Jews.”</b><br>Memo from the Reich Führer of Doctors, signed in proxy by Dr Heinrich Grote, to medical associations on Reich territory as well as other recipients, 17 October 1938, p. 5 | <span class=prov>Historical archive of the KBV, Berlin, 00513</span>
“Our goal cannot lie in filling up the waiting rooms of German doctors with Jews.”
Memo from the Reich Führer of Doctors, signed in proxy by Dr Heinrich Grote, to medical associations on Reich territory as well as other recipients, 17 October 1938, p. 5 | Historical archive of the KBV, Berlin, 00513
In Austria too, Jewish doctors saw their medical licences revoked in 1938. After that, Dr Herbert Neuwalder was “authorized only for the medical treatment of Jews”. | <span class=prov>Picture archive of the Austrian National Library, Vienna, ÖGZ H 5356</span>
In Austria too, Jewish doctors saw their medical licences revoked in 1938. After that, Dr Herbert Neuwalder was “authorized only for the medical treatment of Jews”. | Picture archive of the Austrian National Library, Vienna, ÖGZ H 5356

“Authorized only for the medical treatment of Jews”

Hitler’s takeover in 1933 meant that Nazi doctors and policymakers could now implement their antisemitic agenda, including the complete removal of Jews from the healthcare system. But it soon became clear that a sudden dismissal of all Jewish doctors would lead to severe healthcare shortages for both Jewish and non-Jewish patients. Therefore, their ousting was done in stages. The process culminated in the summer of 1938 when the Reich Interior Ministry issued the Fourth Regulation to the Reich Citizenship Law, which revoked the medical licences of all remaining Jewish doctors effective 30 September. The result was a disastrous shortage of healthcare for the remaining Jewish population.

After the Central Association of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith, along with the Berlin Jewish Community, negotiated with representatives of the KVD and the public health authorities in August 1938, a few Jewish doctors were allowed to continue their practice with Jewish patients only. A new, humiliating term was created for these doctors: “Krankenbehandler” (“treaters of the sick”). The designs of their office signs, prescription forms, and rubber stamps were strictly regulated.

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