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Philipps-Universität Marburg
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Abstract
The initial question of this thesis is concerned with the legitimation, motivation and
organization of the anti-vaccination movement in the area of today’s Hesse, starting with the
coverage and description of the protagonists on an individual level, thus trying to reconstruct
network structures.
As a part of the current state of research concerning the history of anti-vaccination
movements, this thesis renders a contribution to the appraisal of the regional and historical
anti-vaccination- tendencies in the area of Hesse by applying network-theories, which have
already been successfully implemented in various other historical studies.
The core part of this thesis analyzed the motivation and legitimation of individual protagonists
as well as their involvement in anti-vaccination networks. As part of the wider analysis, this
thesis took a closer look at how different individual actors with different individual viewpoints
united in their common goal and against vaccinations.
As in recent years, a “revival” of vaccination skeptic ideology was observed across some
western cultures, this thesis investigates potential parallels between the anti-vaccination
movement after the enactment of the “Reichsimpfgesetz” 1874, and the vaccination skeptic
movement of the 21st century. In comparing the historic and contemporary vaccination critics,
this thesis particularly looked at differences in network structures and considered the
influences of modern technical innovations like the internet and other new communication
media.
A coverage of the anti-vaccination movement in Hesse has not been realized on an individual
level so far, hence this approach promised to gain an insight into the individual motivation and
legitimation of individual protagonists, who then in turn constructed their own network mainly
by the use of the periodical “Der Impfgegner”. Contrary to analyzing the anti-vaccination
movement as a whole (within which the varying different motivations of a broader range of
individual members might have been lost) the approach in this thesis enabled a detailed
analysis of the structure of the movement, based on individual points of view.
Anti-vaccinations tendencies had already been present before the enactment of the
“Reichsimpfgesetz”. However, the anti-vaccination movement as a formally organized network
has only been established through this very act. From thereon, “Der Impfgegner”, a monthly
periodical founded in 1881, built a platform for public exchange for anti-vaccination
enthusiasts. Its ideological character was mainly influenced by the Spohr-family from Gießen,
consisting of the naturopath and former serviceman Peter Spohr, together with his two sons
Curt Spohr (lawyer in Gießen) and Roderich Spohr (Physician in Frankfurt).
During the period of investigation from 1908 to 1914, Peter Spohr was already over 80 years
old and had claimed fame for his doctrines in certain social circles. His studies proposed a life in
accordance with nature, based on the usage of air and later on also water-based therapies. A
proper ventilation seemed to be as important to him, as well as the treatment with water at
certain temperatures in order to heal various sufferings. His theories were essentially
influenced by J.H.Rausses book „Wasser tuts freilich“.
Spohr effaced himself in the „Impfgegner“, which seemed to be in accordance with his
personality. The magazine however used him as a figurehead and prominent pioneer of the
anti-vaccination movement, even though Spohr never actively claimed this position. His sons
Curt and Roderich Spohr adopted the naturopathic position of their father and opposed
compulsory vaccination in accordance with their professions – Roderich Spohr was a general
practitioner in Frankfurt and prevented the vaccination of his two sons through medical attest.
In the year of 1912 his vaccination-skepticism would lead to court proceedings, after he
overlooked smallpox on a patient, which then caused an endemic with several causalities.
Due to Roderich Spohr’s conviction, his brother Curt Spohr increasingly made public
appearances.Having contributed only few articles to the “Impfgegner” so far, Curt Spohr
started writing longer discourses about the question of vaccination. He also became a
chairman of the “Reichsverband der Impfgegner”. Apart from the Spohr family, there were
several other authors, whose articles influenced the character of the “Impfgegner” between
1908 and 1914.
Hugo Wegener, a graduate engineer from Frankfurt, shaped the „Impfgegner “and the
vaccination-skeptical movement with his unprecedented actionism and clarity. Between 1910
and 1914 he published several vaccination-critical books, of which one contained more than
36.000 cases of vaccination failures according to his claims. Some of them were also illustrated
with pictures or drawings. Wegener’s agenda was hard to grasp due to the multiplicity of his
publications. Because he published his books throughout the publishing company of his wife,
and simultaneously advertised them in the “Impfgegner”, one could allege monetary interests.
However, it was possible to find his true motives being situated in a possibly querulous
personality. Wegener can be regarded as one of the most active and colorful personalities of
the anti-vaccination movement in Hesse and beyond.
Another important vaccination critic was Dr. Bilfinger, who temporarily lived in Kassel, and
founded the “Verein impfgegnerischer Ärzte” ibidem. This was recognized with great
enthusiasm within certain social circles and constituted an important step towards the
organized resistance against vaccinations. Even though Bilfinger was ranked as an important
personality in the anti-vaccination network from then on, he remained in the background from
a journalistic point of view. His role as medical head of the “Sanatorium Gossmann” in Kassel
opened the door to an investigation of the Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe. Local naturopathic
orientation made a vaccination-skeptic movement likely, which however couldn’t be verified
after extensive inspection.
Bilfinger's motive seemed to be of personal belief and he used the founding of the antivaccination
association as a step towards grouping single efforts. However, his endeavors
seemed to be crowned by little success, since the “Verein impfgegnerischer Ärzte” didn’t seem
to play a greater role until the end of the investigation period 1914.
Further members of the anti-vaccination-movement were physician von Niessen from
Wiesbaden and the physicians von Hohenhausen and Voigt from Frankfurt. Even though they
contributed to the subject though critical contributions and presentations, they had no trendsetting
meaning. Their motivation was mainly based on personal beliefs.
Investigating the connections between the protagonists among themselves enabled an
inclusion of Hesse’s anti-vaccination movement into a network of regional and national ties.
The primary focus of this thesis was a qualitative analysis, which then allowed further
conclusions in a geographical consideration.
Based on the analysis of the number of contributions in the „Impfgegner“ and their
geographical evaluation according to their activity, it was then possible to gain further
knowledge of the authors. While the area of Frankfurt seemed to have been the epicenter of
the anti-vaccination movement in the “Geographiekarte”, when considering the publicized
literature of the time,,the city Gießen might need to be considered of equal importance. Thus
it was possible to acquire information, which couldn’t be displayed in a topographical point of
view.
After that, nationwide connections between important members of the network were
analyzed. Correspondence between Peter Spohr and the Swiss Adolf Vogt allowed an insight
into the personality of Oberst Spohr, as well as the exchange of letters with racial theorist
Ludwig Schemann. This again highlights the importance of a appraisal on an individual level
and examining personal opinions of key figures, instead of focusing on the public viewpoints.
The same can be applied to the correspondence between Wilhelm Schwaner and Hugo
Wegener, in which the latter explained the delayed production of a vaccination skeptic leaflet
by being short on money. To deduce his actions from monetary motives seemed to be unlikely.
Thus it was possible to draw conclusions about his alleged motivation, which was rather
intangible so far. Therefore, the network approach of this thesis did not only allow a gain of
information when investigating the main protagonists, but also a gain of knowledge through
graphical and quantitative analysis of the connections among the protagonists.
Contrary to the existing studies of the history of the anti-vaccination movement, the regional
approach of this thesis constitutes a novel approach. It critically enabled all of the abovementioned
detailed analyses of important personalities in the network and hence contributed
to the body of knowledge surrounding the anti-vaccination movement. As a result, it was
possible to obtain a very detailed conclusion for the region of Hesse of today and the time
period discussed in this thesis.
The central theme of this thesis was to investigate the detailed motivations and standpoints of
key actors in the anti-vaccination movement of Hesse between 1904 and 1914. Further studies
must show, to which extent the results presented here can be transferred to other regions of
Germany or beyond. The scientific conclusions of this thesis are hence representative only for
a certain period of time and place, because further studies for other regions have not yet been
implemented.
Nevertheless, relevant parallels appeared in comparison with the anti-vaccination movement
of the 21st century, since completely new ways of communication like the Internet or social
media have emerged in the meantime. On one hand,the latter underwent a substantial change
due to technical improvements like the internet. On the other hand, similarities could be found
at the very exchange of ideas on social platforms like Facebook or internet forums. By
distributing an opinion or question to thousands of group members in real time, the impact
seems much higher than the effect of a monthly periodical like the “Impfgegner”. Still, the basic
principle of organizing through a publicly available medium stayed the same, and a level of
continuity in the spread of information can be observed.
Further parallels emerged between aforementioned Hugo Wegener and Hans Tolzin (born in
1958). A textual analysis of the Hans Tolzin’s webpages revealed a strong overlap regarding
rhetoric, public relations activity and also lack of medical knowledge. While Wegener used
books and magazines for his anti-vaccination activity, Tolzin, from a journalistic point of view,
was highly active on the internet. One of the greatest parallels could be found in the form of
the “Impf-report”, a periodical which has been published every two months in the Hans-Tolzin-
Verlag since 2004.
Recent events have shown that the fundamental question regarding vaccinations and the
fundamental criticism associated has survived for more than 140 years past the issuing of the
“Reichsimpfgesetz”. This thesis showed a conclusive discourse about the current discussion
regarding the tightening of the vaccination law by comparing the legal situation in Germany to
the one in other European countries and by considering current epidemical infection rates.
Here, the focus lay on measles, since, according to the WHO, smallpox had been declared to be
extinct globally for more than 40 years.
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Dates
Created: 2018Issued: 2018-08-01Updated: 2018-08-01
Faculty
Medizin
Publisher
Philipps-Universität Marburg
Language
ger
Data types
DoctoralThesis
DFG-subjects
ImpfgegnerHessenWegener,NetzwerktheoremSpohrNetzwerkImpfkritikImpfen
DDC-Numbers
610
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Mayr, Patrick: Die Impfgegnerschaft in Hessen – Motivationen und Netzwerk (1874-1914). : Philipps-Universität Marburg 2018-08-01. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17192/z2018.0314.