Gottron, henry a.

(¤ 1890,  verstorben 1974) Dermatologist. Heinrich Adolf Gottron was born on 10 March 1890 in Oppenheim am Rhein. His family owned several brickworks in the Mainz area. Schooldays in Mainz. After 1910 he studied medicine in Freiburg, Berlin, Munich, Heidelberg, Leipzig and Bonn. 1916 Doctorate (subject: the juvenile Tabes). First dermatological training at the skin department of the municipal hospital in Mainz. During the First World War he was a military doctor. Further training in internal medicine with Hans Curschmann/Berlin. 1918 Change to dermatology, namely to Georg Arndt. Under Georg Arndt he became senior physician in 1927 and habilitated on the purpura anularis teleangiectoides Majocchii. In 1933 he was appointed as apl. professor and shortly afterwards he was appointed to the associate professorship. In 1935, at the age of 45, he was appointed to the chair of the Dermatology Clinic of the University of Breslau, as successor of the non-Aryan Max Jessner, who had been forced to leave the National Socialist regime. In 1938 he joined the NSDAP. In his political function he allegedly protected the dermatologist Stephan Epstein from attacks until his emigration and allegedly effected the release of his Polish colleague Franciszek Walter from the Oranienburg concentration camp. Against the will of the National Socialists he demonstratively visited the dismissed director of the dermatological clinic Leopold Arzt in Vienna in his colonel doctor's uniform. Nevertheless, in 1940 he became Dean of the University of Breslau and at the same time political leader of his faculty. In 1945 he had to leave Breslau due to the events of the war. In 1946 he was called to Tübingen and worked there until 1961. In post-war Germany he distinguished himself by his charisma and morphological talent. Gottron received the highest national and medical honours. He received two honorary doctorates and countless honorary memberships in scientific associations. In 1959 he was president of the German Therapy Week, the largest medical congress of that time. Gottron's name is eponymically connected with numerous diseases (especially scleromyxedema Arndt-Gottron, acrogeria Gottron, reticulosarcomatosis Gottron, erythrokeratodermia progressive symmetric Gottron, scleroderma amyloidosum Gottron, granulomatosis tuberculoides pseudosclerodermidiformis Gottron). After his retirement he returned to his old home and died in Mainz on 23 June 1974 at the age of 84. The role of Gottron during the time of National Socialism is not undisputed: He wrote among other things: "It is up to us doctors to evaluate the findings of hereditary science thus acquired according to the guidelines of our leadership for the reorganisation of our people".

1. Gottron HA (1931) Skin alterations in dermatomyositis. Dermatol Wochenschr 92: 628
2. Gottron HA (1936) contribution to the epidemiology of zoonoses on the skin. Med World 10: 1439-1444
3. Gottron HA (1938) Relationships between skin diseases and diseases of other organs. Z Physician advanced training 35: 545-548
4. Gottron HA (1964) Basalioma problems. Dermatol weekly 150: 220-226