Mobilisierung des Blutes. Blutspendedienst, Blutgruppenforschung und totale Landesverteidigung in der Schweiz, 1940–1960

Abstract

During World War II and the early Cold War period, a rapid development of the blood transfusion service and a boom in blood group research occurred in Switzerland. Unprecedented volumes of blood were stored and enormous quantities of blood group data were recorded. In the following paper I will argue that this mobilization of blood was strongly shaped by military institutions and aims. The military worked closely with the Red Cross in order to build a blood transfusion service that was supposed to guarantee a permanent readiness for war and help prepare the nation for an imagined nuclear conflict. Concurrently, geneticists, anthropologists, and physicians obtained new opportunities for scientific research in collaboration with the military and the Red Cross enabling them access to comprehensive military data and modern serological laboratories. The paper points out how this cooperation between the military and the sciences influenced and transformed the cultural meanings, the medical uses of as well as the knowledge about human blood.

Un/doing Race

“…Pour explorer la « réalité raciale », Sauter se penche sur les analyses de groupes sanguins, un champ de recherche qui connaît un essor international au milieu du XX e siècle (Germann 2015b ;Bangham 2020). Outre son importance pour la génétique humaine, il donne une nouvelle impulsion à la recherche sur les races, puisque les études sur la répartition géographique des groupes sanguins semblent enfin réaliser la promesse d'une base génétique solide dans laquelle on puisse ancrer la science raciale.…”