[A prophet without honor in his own country: Dr. Ernst Wodak (1891-1962)]

Among all otolaryngologists who lived in Israel during the first half of the 20th century, one was most prominent - Dr. Ernst Wodak. Ernst Wodak was born in Czechoslovakia in 1891 and he graduated from the German University of Prague in 1915. Dr. Wodak was a knowledgeable clinician and an outstanding researcher. He was mainly interested in the vestibular system, and already started to publish the results of his observations in 1914. In a short time Dr. Wodak became famous all over Europe. He was on the Editorial Boards of the Acta Oto-Laryngologica, and of the Excerpta Medica, and a member of the International Collegium Otolaryngologicum. In 1939, following the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Germans, Dr. Wodak had to leave his work, and soon after he immigrated to Israel and settled in Tel-Aviv. For 5 years he volunteered in the ENT department in 'Hadassah' Hospital. Even though he was already famous worldwide, Dr Wodak was not appreciated by most of his colleagues nor by the academic authorities. He could not continue his research and was forced to work only in his private clinic and mainly performed plastic and cosmetic operations. In spite of his frustration, Dr. Wodak did not lose the drive to publish and continued to contribute important papers to medical journals both in Israel and abroad. He published more than 200 papers and also wrote a few books. Dr Wodak died on 27.4.1962 following a prolonged period of pain and suffering, away from his wife and daughter and abandoned by most of his friends.