The particular strength of Matthis Krischel’s thesis results from mobilising and drawing together methods, theories and approaches from different fields of inquiry related to the history of medicine in the ‘Third Reich’. The reconstruction of the relationship between German urology societies and the National Socialist regime and how German urologists

out of conviction or for opportunistic reasons, and obtained influence through university positions in return: the first German full professor in urology (Otto Ringleb (1875–1946)) was installed in 1937 at the Friedrich-Wilhelm University of Berlin. Ringleb was at that point in time also an SS-Obersturmführer. One of this book’s many strengths is that it lays emphasis on the practice and methods of forced sterilisation and castration policies of men (operated on by surgeons or urologists), a topic that has not received as much historical attention as the sterilisation of women (operated on by gynaecologists). The German Law for Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring (Das Gesetz zur Verhütung erbkranken Nachwuchses) was enacted in 1933. Around 400 000 patients who had been diagnosed with certain so-called hereditary diseases were sterilised after a verdict in ‘hereditary health courts’. Similar laws existed in a number of countries. While about nine out of ten sterilisation victims were female in, for example, Switzerland and Sweden, about fifty percent of all victims who were sterilised in Germany between 1934 and 1945 were men. If the author had discussed his results on sterilised men with a European perspective, this part would have been an even more welcome addition to this growing field of study. Krischel’s book relies on primary published materials such as research papers, discussions in medical journals from the 1930s and 1940s and instruction materials in textbooks, as well as archival documents from different state and university archives, practitioners’ personal papers and company archives. The author could have provided more detailed insight on some personal files. There is a hint that some files have been destroyed for political reasons (p. 53), but he could have elaborated further on this matter. The book is well structured and it is fully illustrated with pictures, tables and reprints from contemporary journals and the daily press. An index would have been helpful for readers who are interested in certain urologists or politicians. The particular strength of Matthis Krischel’s thesis results from mobilising and drawing together methods, theories and approaches from different fields of inquiry related to the history of medicine in the ‘Third Reich’. The reconstruction of the relationship between German urology societies and the National Socialist regime and how German urologists have dealt with their past gives us a multifaceted picture that is relevant to the history of science. Krischel’s remarkable contribution unravels institutional and personal continuities and will be valued by various audiences such as historians, physicians and educated laymen. It will also be a book well worth reading for courses on medicine in the ‘Third Reich’.