Abstract
The German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC) was founded in Bonn in 1950 and saw itself
as the all-German representation of neurosurgeons. The development of neurosurgery
in divided Germany was different in each case as part of a system and was not unaffected
by the confrontation between the two blocs (cold war), which also had a negative impact
on the field of science. Thus, early on, restrictions on intra-German travel from
the East made normal relations difficult. But travel restrictions also came from the
West, where an Allied Travel Office in West Berlin decided whether an East German
could enter a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) country. Nevertheless, it
was possible that Georg Merrem from Leipzig took over the second chairmanship of the
board of the DGNC of the election period from 1960 to 1962 and eight individual memberships
of German Democratic Republic (GDR) neurosurgeons were still tolerated by the state
side. The construction of the Berlin Wall on August 13, 1961 meant that these connections
also collapsed. Merrem, at that time the only full professor of neurosurgery in the
GDR, founded the “Association of Neurosurgeons in the GDR” in 1962 in agreement with
the state authorities. With the foundation of a GDR neurosurgeons' society, the demarcation
from the DGNC desired by the state was visibly accomplished. There were no official
relations between the two neurosurgical societies. During the period of its existence
until 1990, the entire work of the East German society was under the guidance and
control of state institutions, which in turn derived their work from the guidelines
of the party and the decisions of the council of ministers. Using the example of the
congress activities of the first 5 years after the Wall was built, we show this dependence
on state institutions. It extends from congress planning to reporting. With available
figures of participating speakers from West Germany and other countries, it is demonstrated
for the individual congresses in Leipzig, Magdeburg, and Erfurt that the German–German
connection was continued despite all adverse circumstances. The presence of West German
colleagues, who were not deterred from attending the congress even by the construction
of the Berlin Wall, can be seen as a visible expression of an unbroken togetherness.
However, already in 1967, the party and the council of ministers passed the resolution
“On the organization of work in the field of science and culture of the GDR to West
Germany as well as West Berlin.” This regulated membership, the associated travel,
and the conditions for publications in West German journals. Among other things, this
directive prohibited membership in scientific societies, including the DGNC, based
in West Germany. The organization of its own congresses took on a special significance
because a congress visit from East to West was regulated by the state and thus only
possible in isolated cases.
Keywords
GDR - neurosurgery - congress - cold war - Berlin wall
