[Helmut Schmidt--a protagonist of modern anesthesia in Germany]

Helmut Schmidt, an assistant of the reputed surgeon Paul Sudeck, who headed the Surgical Department of the University in Hamburg at that time, habilitated in 1928. The title of his monograph was "Merits of nitrous oxide anaesthesia--a comparative study seeking reintroduction and increase of the use of nitrous oxide in Germany". With this paper, Schmidt qualified himself as the first lecturer for anaesthesiology in Germany. He had been eager since the mid-twenties on establishing our special medical discipline separate from surgery. Schmidt's merits also include introducing students and doctors to the practice of anaesthesiology, teaching both a practical approach towards anaesthesia at the operating room, and theory during lectures on general surgery. This method was absolutely new at that time. Due to the resistance by conservative surgeons, he failed to establish a "German Society of Anaesthesia" during the 90th meeting of the "German Society of Natural Scientists and Physicians" held in Hamburg in 1928. In fact, this was accomplished only as late as 1953. The following text recalls a number of contributions to anaesthesiology made by the honorary member of the "German Society for Anaesthesiology" Helmut Schmidt, who was born a hundred years ago and whose name and merits have fallen into oblivion during the past decades.