Today I was reading up on another, more controversial figure who worked at my Alma Mater @UniJena. Born 1877 in Cairo to an Egyptian father and a German mother, Yusuf Ibrahim [YI] (German: Jussuf Ibrahim) became a medical doctor and a founding figure of pediatrics as a field. 1/

As the English wiki article on him is rather terse, I will rely on German sources mostly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusuf_Ibrahim_(doctor)

YI spent only two years in Egypt before his family moved to Germany. He studied medicine in Munich and wrote his dissertation on the spleen. He then worked in Heidelberg, getting into pediatrics and writing his *Habilitation* in 1904. 2/

https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz36241.html 

His following stations were Munich (1906-15), Würzburg (1915-17) and finally Jena where he remained for the rest of his life (1917-53). In Jena he became director of the newly founded children's hospital funded by the Carl-Zeiss-Foundation. 3/

YI was a founding figure of pediatrics in terms of treatment and research. Several pathologies were named after him, and he described the nerve system of children. He also engaged in social pediatrics, founding several institutions. 4/

In Heidelberg and Jena, YI founded infant nursery schools (graduates were deemed "Ibrahim nurses"), mothers' and infants' homes, nursery schools, and the world's first children's hospital specifically for tuberculosis (Jena, 1923). 5/
https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz36241.html 

After #WW2, YI was awarded several honors.
1947: Dr. hc. at the "social pedagogical faculty" in Jena and honorary citizen of Jena
1949: "merited medical doctor of the people" by the GDR
1952: National Award first class by the GDR. 6/
https://www.gedenkort-t4.eu/en/biographies/05-27-1877-02-03-1953-jussuf-ibrahim-kinderarzt-jena#ways-of-life

Ibrahim was buried in Jena (see the grave stone in the article below) and still remembered by older locals up to 2000, as he had treated many in their childhood. His children's hospital carried his name. 7/

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jussuf_Ibrahim

Why did I call Ibrahim controversial? Well, he worked under four German governments: Imperial, Weimar, NS, and GDR. And under the Nazis, he remained in his position despite not being whyte also because he took part in the Euthanasia program, in his case re infants/children. 8/

Ibrahim's involvement was investigated since the 1990s. @UniJena formed an historical commission, and in 2000 his name was taken off the children's hospital he had helped establish. 9/

https://idw-online.de/de/news20002 

The commission had found seven cases between 1941 and 1945 in which YI had transferred infants/children with severe pathologies to the "Heilanstalt" (sanatorium) in near-by Stadtroda (see link), where the killing would be done. 10/
https://www.gedenkort-t4.eu/en/biographies/05-27-1877-02-03-1953-jussuf-ibrahim-kinderarzt-jena#ways-of-life

According to the commission and this interview with Prof. Dr. med. Eggert Beleites in 2000, YI was positively interested in Eugenics since the 1920s. He applied for NSDAP membership—without success—indicating a positive attitude towards Euthanasia. 11/ https://www.aerzteblatt.de/archiv/23597/NS-Kindereuthanasie-Der-Fall-Jussuf-Ibrahim-Das-Problem-ist-ja-nicht-weg-aus-unserer-Zeit

In 1943, there are two contradicting messages about Ibrahim's involvement. He received a war medal and a reprimand for delaying permits for Euthanisia from within his hospital. 12/

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jussuf_Ibrahim

The reprimand might well be connected to his interactions with the Trüpers. Johannes Trüper (1855-1921) had founded the first therapeutic psychiatric children's home, "Sophienhöhe", whose history is treated in this radio feature. 13/ https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/jenas-enteignete-geschichte-die-sophienhoehe.3720.de.html?dram:article_id=416869

Developing a revolutionary concept, children with mental pathologies were not locked away but educated and treated with very modern methods. Trüper's heirs administered the "Sophienhöhe" under the Nazi Regime and saved children, with great difficulty,+ 14/
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Tr%C3%BCper

+from the Euthanasia program. One way to do that was to send them to YI's hospital (and vice versa) at times when they were supposed to be taken to Stadtroda. As the radio feature states, this delaying tactic could be quite successful. 15/ https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/jenas-enteignete-geschichte-die-sophienhoehe.3720.de.html?dram:article_id=416869

This tactic might be at the heart of YI's reprimand.

As this short post states, there is "a certain tragic" in his biography. But I would add that there is a lot to learn from it, as well. 16/
https://www.kandil.de/leben/jussuf-ibrahim

What Ibrahim's biography reveals, is the allurement Nazi ideologies could hold for the professional classes. It uncovers continuities in the medical profession before, during, and after the NS Regime.
Although YI was technically Egyptian, he was socialized in 4 Germanies. 17/

I do not know of any incidents, where even the Nazis pointed out his "Egyptian-ness". And before anyone jumps into the comments with ill intent, since 1913 Ibrahim was a Lutheran Christian, which must have helped his status in Germany as well. 18/

For anyone who wants to know more, his estate is held by @UniJena today. 19/19

https://www4.uni-jena.de/Bereiche/Universit%C3%A4tsarchiv/Bestands%C3%BCbersicht/Bestandsbeschreibung+Bestand+V+Abt_+VIII.html