[Between interdependence and separation: the history of medicine as an academic discipline in divided Germany...

The article traces the development of the history of medicine as an academic discipline in divided Germany between 1945 and 1959. During this time period the core of the field--the German association for the history of medicine, the scientific journal and, as well, many scientists--shifted from East to West Germany. The fate of the formerly renowned chair of the history of medicine in what was now East Berlin and the difficulties to find a candidate willing to fill in the position indicate the problems in establishing a socialist historiography of medicine. The 1950s was a lost decade for the historiography of medicine in East Germany. In the meantime the historiography of medicine in West Germany, based on better starting conditions, consolidated institutionally.