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Heinrich Weder. Sozialhygiene and pragmatische Gesundheitspolitik in der Weimarer Republik am Beispiel des Sozial- and Gewerbehygienikers Benno Chajes (1880-1938). Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der Medizin and der Naturwissenschaften, no. 87. Husum, Germany: Matthiesen, 2000. 454 pp. (Euro)63.00, Sw. Fr. 105.50 (paperbound, 3-7868-4087-3).
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 emigre in 1933.
Weder first shows the various influences that were important for Chajes's development as a social-hygienist and health politician....