Sozialhygiene und pragmatische Gesundheitspolitik in der Weimarer Republik am Beispiel des Sozial- und Gewerbehygienikers Benno Chajes (1880-1938) (review)

The social democratic physician Benno Chajes is known in Germany as a social-hygienist and a follower of Alfred Grotjahn (1869-1931). His activities as a health politician and as a cofounder of work hygiene in the Weimar Republic have fallen into oblivion. Heinrich Weder's book sheds light on Chajes's contribution to the fields of social and work hygiene during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic of the so-called reformist Social Democrats. Chajes's activities in these fields serve as a guide through the maze of social democratic health politics. Weder focuses on the history of the relevant institutions and periodicals. While his geographic focus is Prussia, and specifically Berlin, he includes some references to international organizations and to Palestine, where Chajes had to start a new life as an émigré in 1933.

Weder first shows the various influences that were important for Chajes's development as a social-hygienist and health politician. His marriage to the stepdaughter of Eduard Bernstein, the leader of the revisionistic wing of the Social Democratic Party and brother-in-law of Ignaz Zadek, brought him into contact with influential Social Democrats. These contacts in turn were important for his political and professional career. Chajes completed his professional training as a dermatologist, working in the polyclinic of Alfred Blaschko, where he gained insight into the functioning and organization of a dispensary. Weder describes Chajes's work as a panel doctor, paying special attention to his cooperation with various organizations of health insurance companies. His relationship to the sickness-funds is examined on the basis of three aspects: first, his feelings as to whether health insurance should include coverage against health hazards; second, his position in the conflict between panel doctors and sickness-funds; and third, his social-hygienic work within the frame of obligatory health insurance.

Chajes's career within the Social Democratic Party, as one of the leading social democratic health politicians in Berlin, is the subject of chapter 4. He had been active in local politics since 1915. In 1928 he became a member of the Prussian parliament, responsible for health politics (improvement of the working conditions of the medical professions, control of the pharmaceutical industry, work hygiene, regulation of human experiments). The fifth chapter deals with his major contribution to work hygiene until the beginning of the 1930s. Under the influence of Alfred Blaschko, Chajes became interested in skin diseases caused by working conditions. He tried to introduce a social-hygienic approach into work hygiene. After a short stay in Detmold, he became a professor of work hygiene at the College of Advanced Technology (Technische Hochschule) in Berlin-Charlottenburg, where he taught students as well as laborers. Thus he combined theory and practice, meeting one of the key elements of social democratic education. In 1932 he became a professor of social hygiene at the University of Berlin, succeeding Alfred Grotjahn. His career came to an abrupt end when the National Socialists seized power.

In addition to his academic teaching Chajes published articles in journals of social medicine in an effort to improve labor legislation. To achieve this goal he made use of the political network (the Social Democratic Party, the trade unions, and the sickness-funds) to which he belonged. His political activities soon included public-school health service and other fields of public welfare. He combined his many interests by editing the Zeitschrift für Soziale Hygiene, Fürsorge- und Krankenhauswesen (Journal for social hygiene, social welfare system, and hospital care) and later the Zeitschrift für Schulgesundheitspflege und soziale Hygiene (Journal for school health service and social hygiene). As a social hygienist...