1997: The “Pernkopf Scandal”

In 1997, the Senate of the University of Vienna decided to investigate the treatment of human remains of Nazi victims at the medical faculty. This was triggered by public accusations regarding the internationally renowned anatomy atlas by Eduard Pernkopf (1888-1955), Professor of Anatomy from 1933, dean of the medical faculty as of 1938, and Rector of the University of Vienna starting in 1943. Although his dismissal in 1945 was heavily politically charged, he was nevertheless able to continue work on his atlas and maintain access to specimens. As the Senate Commission later showed, several institutes of the Vienna medical faculty had seized the unique opportunities offered during Nazi rule to acquire corpses. The Anatomy Institute received the corpses of at least 1,377 executed people, including numerous victims of political persecution. In at least one case, a child that had died in the children’s ward of “Am Spiegelgrund” was dissected at the Anatomy Institute. The corpses were used in dissection courses and as a basis for the illustrations in the Pernkopf atlas. The illustrators Erich Lepier, Franz Batke and Karl Endtresser embellished their signatures with swastikas and other indications of their political views. As a result of the work of the “Pernkopf Commission”, numerous remaining specimens from the Nazi period were eventually buried.

External Resources:

www.gedenkstaettesteinhof.at