Undisclosed facts in Friedrich Wegener's links with Nazism

Abstract

Friedrich Wegener was the author of a comprehensive description of a disease that was named Wegener's granulomatosis. In 2010, its name was changed to granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), the reason being that Wegener's links to Nazism were revealed. The research was conducted between May 2021 and August 2023 and was based on the historical method (understood as defining the subject of research, critical analysis of collected historical source materials, and historiographical synthesis) using the methods of direct and indirect inference ascribed to the historical method. Wegener and his wife were members of numerous Nazi organizations. He was rewarded for his stance by the German Reich. Together with his family, he lived in very comfortable conditions for the standards of the time, unattainable for the average person. He described himself as a frontline combatant in the Nazi invasion of Poland. Friedrich Wegener's links with Nazism were more extensive than has hitherto been known. The links involved his professional and private life. They testify to his membership in numerous Nazi organizations, as well as his active involvement in the activities of various institutions and communities of the German Reich and his overt expression of support for Hitler. Wegener's numerous accolades from the German Reich providing him with professional, material and personal benefits were proof of his links with the Nazi movement. Wegener's association with Nazism helped him to advance his career, and to attain a high social status and quality of life, both before the outbreak and during the Second World War.