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Professor Riehm was not only an excellent pediatric oncologist, but also an excellent hematologist. He was a mentor also for young scientists who were interested in hematological research as his/her main focus. In the 1970s he has promoted research in coagulation disorders, during 1980s he supported the investigation on hematopoetic growth factors. During the 1990 s he was one of the first in Europe who have used hematopoietic growth factors as a supportive therapy in the protocol ALL-BFM and has also helped to set up the International Registry for Severe Chronic Neutropenias [SCNIR] in his Department. The sense of the top research directions of the time distinguishes him not only as a pioneer of the leukaemia therapy studies, but also as a pioneer in hematology. He created the environment in which research could blossom., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

Although they are the lesser known Nazi atrocities, it is estimated that some 5000-8000 children with physical and intellectual disabilities were killed in Nazi Germany under a programme of euthanasia. Chronologically, they were a precedent, being the Nazis' first organised and systematic killing programme that would later enlarge to include adults with disabilities and ultimately, to the broader programme of racially motivated 'euthanasia' of the holocaust. The programme intimately involved medical staff, including a number of paediatricians, many of whom would go unpunished and continue to practice for many years after the war. This paper outlines the origins and development of the programme, examines how families were involved and affected and looks at what motivated the medical staff involved with the killing. The history of the Nazi child euthanasia programme has a number of important lessons for practicing doctors and health policy-makers in the 21st century., (© 2011 The Author. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2011 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians).)

In the discourse on health, boys are emerging as a problem group. In contrast to girls who tended to be seen as fragile if not sickly, boys used to be thought of as strong and healthy. Gender-specific concepts stipulated much more exercise for boys, the masturbation discourse prevented a relaxed relationship to the own body. The paper first describes specific problems in the biography (babies, child labour, tuberculosis, school, fitness for military service) and their solutions up to the time of the Weimar Republic. During and after the two world wars school boys tended to be of poorer health than girls. The consequences of war affect the mental health of (half-) orphans gender-non-specifically up to the third generation. After 1945, attention to health concerns is rather restricted to the professional aptitude of mining trainees, health-related risk behaviour tends to be interpreted in terms of gender. Mothers sought medical advice slightly more frequently on behalf of boys up to puberty. Concerning the time between 1780 and 2010 inferior health is often noticeable in boys and male adolescents. This used to, and still does, apply to babies, child labour, industrial work and occupational accidents, conscription and direct consequences of war. It was mostly due to gender-specific separation of labour, but partly also to a higher risk preference. The gender-specific wider scope for exercise and sports up to the 1960s, in contrast, had a health-promoting effect.

The career of Theodor Escherich (1857-1911) qualifies him as the first pediatric infectious diseases physician. His landmark bacteriologic studies identified the common colon bacillus (now known as Escherichia coli), and he was very committed to pediatrics, serving as chairman of several prominent departments of pediatrics, including the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Vienna and St. Anna's Children's Hospital in Vienna, Austria, arguably Europe's most prestigious pediatric position.

Albert Haller practiced medicine in Berne before being appointed Professor of Anatomy and Botany at the University of Göttingen. From 1731 to 1736, he kept a journal detailing the treatments he prescribed to his approximately 300 patients, 63 of whom were children and adolescents. The journal noted 580 pediatric consultations and detailed the ailments, their progression and applied therapies, allowing the reconstruction of case histories, some of which extended for several years. Through analysis of this data, we attempt to answer the questions such as: What diseases led parents to ask for medical interventions for their children? What were the age cohorts of the group of young patients? At one point did Haller perceive as serious their statements and symptoms/ How frequent were consultations? What were the prescribed therapies? Did he base his conclusions on the value of a child's life attributed by physicians and society of the period?

In the research of the history of medicine there has been little regard to children as patients. In this paper my focus is especially on children who were put in the "Kinderfachabteilung" (Children Special Department) of the Bavarian State Hospital of Kaufbeuren-Irsee. This is one of three "Kinderfachabteilungen" (Children Special Departments) in Bavaria and one of about thirty in the "Deutsches Reich". During the period of National Socialism these children were (de)classified as "lebensunwertes Leben" (life of not worth living) and as such were admitted to these units. They became victims of the systematically conducted child euthanasia. There has been the attempt to eliminate them as silent as possible. In the beginning I will concentrate on the development of the institutional history of the children's medical care in Kaufbeuren-Irsee. It will be presented the care of children from beginning to end (1940-1966). An analysis of the historical sources, a survey of children's patient records give deep insights into the children's fates. The emphasis will be on the "Kinderfachabteilung" (Children Special Department) Kaufbeuren-Irsee in which 221 children died from 1941 to 1945.

Since Philippe Ariès' History of Childhood scholars have been interested in the history of the sick child in the Early Modern Period. This paper adds one more case study to the current research. It analyses sources connected with the physician and surgeon Lorenz Heister: his handbooks on surgery (1719) and medicine (1744) on the one hand, which reflect the respective therapeutic ideal, and his consultation letters on the other hand, which enable us to have a closer look at Heister's therapeutic practice. It can be shown, albeit with the exception of the lower social classes, that in the case of illness it depended not so much on the age of the sick person than the "style" of the family concerned if expert advice was sought or not. Only one feature depended on age: with the young patients-by-post "surgical" diseases were more common than with adults. It seems that the surgeon's diagnosis "from outside" fitted better to the small patients than the physician's anamnesis-based proceeding.

The origins, major events and the Italian and foreign literature on the history of pediatrics are summarized. The origins of the word ''pediatrics'', the history of pediatric incunables and the first textbooks of pediatrics in Italian language are reviewed. Moreover, the foundation of the first pediatric hospital in Italy, the Italian history of academic schools in pediatrics, the first national congress and the formation of the national society of pediatrics are outlined. In 1998, on the occasion of the 100 years anniversary of the foundation of the national society of pediatrics, a special group on the history of pediatrics was formed. Finally, other topics for further studies are suggested.

This article deals with the biography of Werner Catel, a German paediatrician and protagonist of the Nazi programme for "euthanasia of children". Based on original research into recently discovered source materials, two aspects of Catel's life are considered. Firstly, Catel's attitude towards "euthanasia" is analysed. This analysis is not limited to the period of National Socialism, but focuses also on the phase before 1933 and especially on the era after 1945. Secondly, the authors explore Catel's academic career. What effects on his career in the later Federal Republic of Germany had his exposed role in the Nazi programme for "euthanasia of children"? In this context it is also examined how the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel/Germany, which employed Catel until 1960 in a leading position, judged the work of its former professor after his death.

The physicians, Widukind Lenz and Frances Kelsey, played crucial roles in the thalidomide drama of the early 1960s. Widespread use of the drug in West Germany was only halted when the paediatrician, Lenz, publicized its association with the birth of nearly 4,000 children exhibiting abnormal limb growth. Few cases were reported in the United States because Kelsey, a medical officer at the US Food and Drug Administration, repeatedly delayed thalidomide's marketing approval. Experts in both countries were expected to demonstrate publicly the professional 'objectivity' of medicine and the institutional 'disinterestedness' of regulatory bodies. These norms were invoked both by industry representatives seeking to undermine the two experts and by critics desiring stronger regulatory controls. Comparing Lenz and Kelsey demonstrates how institutional structures shape an expert's social and scientific roles. While the United States provided important protection from external pressure for Kelsey through her regulatory position at the FDA, Lenz was open to sharp criticism, especially when giving expert testimony during a lengthy court trial. The degree of exposure to politically motivated attacks differed for these two experts; they nevertheless faced similar threats to their professional credibility and personal integrity when they publicized links between thalidomide and birth defects.

Due to the isolation of German medicine in World War II accompanied by the destruction of many hospitals, German pediatricians did not show any serious interest in the treatment of children with congenital heart diseases, nor did they take notice of the progress achieved by Helen Taussig, Alfred Blalock and other cardiologists and surgeons in the western world. This problem was even worse in East Germany. Only a few German internists and forward-looking surgeons were able and ready to take care of this group of principally operable children in places like Bonn/Düsseldorf, Marburg/Munich, Berlin, and Hamburg. However, in the early 1950s some directors of pediatrics at university hospitals--largely motivated by the cardiac surgeons--allowed or even encouraged younger colleagues to concentrate on pediatric cardiology and to begin application of heart catheterization and angiocardiography. In 1960 a group of colleagues interested in pediatric cardiology met for the first time in Frankfurt and became the nucleus of the future "working group" (1969) and finally the "German Society of Pediatric Cardiology" (1974). By 1972 pediatric cardiology had been approved as an independent (sub)specialty. Colleagues and friends from surrounding countries (Austria, Great Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands) and also from the US and some eastern countries were either members or regular guests during or between the meetings. Pediatric cardiology is now represented in Germany by specialized practitioners, trainees and assistants who work in both community and university hospitals, and in specialized departments. Due to the foresightedness of the Chief of Pediatrics, Prof. G. Joppich, the first Chair of Pediatric Cardiology was founded in Göttingen in 1960 under the direction of A. Beuren. Another model of interdisciplinary cooperation between pediatric cardiologists, bioengineers, mathematicians and computer scientists was established in Kiel in 1966. In other places pediatric and adult cardiologists were brought together in "Heart Centers" with cardiovascular surgeons. The first of these Heart Centers was founded in 1974 in Munich under the directorship of K. Bühlmeyer and comparable centers were later established in Bad Oeynhausen (1985) and Berlin (1986). Following reunification in 1990, pediatric cardiologists from the east and west came together. Thus, within the last three to four decades German pediatric cardiology gradually caught up with international standards and in some fields of cardiovascular research even assumed a leading role. The care of the growing numbers of surviving patients with congenital heart disease has become a new challenge that has to be met by experienced cardiologists. To maintain the level of competence, future activities should however, not only concentrate on the optimal care of patients with congenital heart disease but also be responsible for cardiovascular research.

In an attempt to improve racial fitness, racial policy in the Third Reich targeted many groups, including physically and mentally handicapped children. An early program identified disabled children who were systematically selected and then transferred to various hospital centers where they were actively euthanatized. The program, directed by mainstream German physicians, was begun on the eve of war and was a harbinger of the evils to come. This article highlights the "scientific thought" that provided the rationale for this policy together with the details of implementation of the active euthanasia program and profiles one of the major participants, Werner Catel, DrMed, who was a distinguished pediatrician.

In 1892-93, Paul Ehrlich published a series of experiments on the passive transfer of maternal antibody to fetus and newborn that deserve to be better known. He pointed out the importance of mother's milk to neonatal well-being. He was the first to define the difference between active and passive immunity. He was the first to demonstrate immune elimination of antigen and to explain the significance of each phase of the kinetics of the anamnestic antibody response. We point out how elegant were these early experiments and how far in advance of their times.