The discovery of an envelope of photographs taken at the British Pharmacological Society meeting in 1937 labelled ‘Joint meeting with the German Pharmacological Society’ in the Department of Pharmacology provided impetus to find out more.
President of the British Pharmacological Society (BPS), Professor Sir Mark Caulfield, opened the event and at the end reflected on the relevance of scientists ‘stepping up’ when members of the scientific community are persecuted and academic freedom infringed.
Head of the Department of Pharmacology, Professor Frances Platt FRS, introduced the event with the discovery of photographs from the 1930s leading to contact and collaboration with the German Pharmacological Society (DGPT). Photographs feature member of the department, Professor Edith Bülbring persecuted for being Jewish fleeing from Nazi Germany seen close in photographs with former German colleagues who joined the Nazi party.
Talks were limited to 25 minutes allowing a wide variety of perspectives on shared histories of British and German pharmacologists. The first talk was given by former President of the BPS, Professor Roderick Flower, who set the scene on ‘The History of the British Pharmacological Society’. This was followed by Dr Lizzie Burns on the ‘History of pharmacology teaching in Oxford & links to Germany’ including recent discoveries of the previously unacknowledged founder of the department, Dr William John Smith Jerome, who worked in Germany between 1863-1895 where experimental pharmacology emerged.
The third talk was given by Hannes Schneider from Hannover Medical School on ‘Historical analysis of the directors of the pharmacological Institutes in Germany 1918-1963’. Chairman of the DGPT, Professor Roland Seifert, explored ‘The impact of the persecution of German pharmacologists on their publication behaviour’ as a measure as to how the political situation effected publications.
During the break a ‘Blue plaque’ was unveiled honouring Professor James Andrew Gunn who helped initiate the BPS and was the first statutory chair of pharmacology in Oxford.
Following a break, Dr Lizzie Burns and Professor Roland Seifert gave a joint talk on ‘The significance of exiles and visitors to the BPS’. Roland shared excerpts of a diary written by the Chairman of the DGPT at that time, Professor Wolfgang Heubner, and gave insight into British pharmacologists visiting German meetings prior to WWII.
Historian, Professor Paul Weindling, spoke on German-Jewish exile and member of department, ‘(Hugh) Hermann Blaschko and his support of refugee scientists’ who he knew. The seventh talk on ‘Reconstruction of the German Pharmacological Society after WWII’ was given by Nina Goebels. Fifth statutory chair of pharmacology, Professor Antony Galione FRS, gave a reflective talk on ‘Pharmacology in the pre- and post-war era’.
The final talk was given by Professor Shelley McKeown-Jones from the Department of Experimental Pharmacology on ‘Behind the photographs: making sense of relations’ of photographs showing exiled Jewish scientists alongside former colleagues who joined the Nazi party. Her message included predating friendships and a shared belief in science being stronger than political alliances.
The event concluded with questions from the audience and valuable reflections from members. One participant remarked “I’ve never been to something like this before”.