Hoffmann, erich

(¤ 1868, 1959) Dermatologist, active in Berlin, Halle, Bonn. Born in Witzmitz/East Pomerania, school years in Berlin, studied medicine in Berlin at the Kaiser Wilhelm Academy of Military Medicine.

1893 state examination there. Doctorate under R. Virchow. Dermatological training at the Charité/Berlin under E. Lesser, among others. 1904 habilitation with a topic on syphilitic vascular diseases. Together with F. Schaudinn he discovered the causative agent of syphilis in 1905.

1905 Appointment as a.o. professor.

1909 Appointment to the University Dermatological Clinic Halle/Saale. 1910 Appointment to the University Dermatological Clinic in Bonn. 1919 Appointment as full professor. In collaboration with Paul Ehrlich, he was able to carry out early studies on the effect of salvarsan in syphilis.

In 1934 he was dismissed from the university service by the National Socialist regime due to the denunciation of his own assistants (among them Rudolf Strempel, later dermatological full professor at the University of Saarland), after he expressed in a public lecture: "A white vest is better to me than a brown shirt".

His successor was Otto Grütz.

E. Hoffmann died in Bonn at the ripe old age of 91.