[The surgeon Burghard Breitner. poet or healer?]

Burghard Breitner, born on June 10, 1884 in Mattsee (Salzburg state) went to school in Salzburg. From autumn 1901 he studied medicine in Graz and Vienna, where he graduated on 1 (st) of June 1908. In the time of his studies he worked on literature and poetry. But finally he decided to become a surgeon. In World War I Breitner was a prisoner of war (POW) of Russia. During this period he used his medical expertise to help wounded soldiers and the local people. For this honourable gesture he was popularly known as "The Angel of Siberia". From 1932 he was Professor of Surgery in Innsbruck. Mainly he worked on the therapy of goiter. Breitner restructured the department of surgery because of scientific development. In 1951 he was a presidential candidate in Austria in an election, which he did not win. In autumn 1952 he became the Rector magnificus of the University of Innsbruck. Breitner died on 28 (th) of March 1956 in Innsbruck.