[The surgeon Wilhelm Wagner and the Upper Silesian Miners Association]

This article describes the life of the Hessian physician Wilhelm Wagner (1848-1900) and his great importance for Upper Silesia. The initial years of Wagner's effectiveness in Königshütte (Upper Silesia) coincided at that time with the just beginning dissemination of antisepsis and its success. Parallel to this development Wagner turned more and more towards surgery. Without having undergone any surgical training, he was admitted into the German Society of Surgery as a young physician and later voted into its executive board. In the emergent industrial region of Upper Silesia he achieved pioneering work in surgery and social medicine. This was made possible and promoted by the Upper Silesian Miners Association. Wagner created fundamental and lasting innovations in surgery. His main work was "The injuries of the spinal column and the spinal cord" (1898). Despite his enormous private practice he always remained a "true friend and benefactor of the working man".