Walther Birkmayer, Co-describer of L-Dopa, and His Nazi Connections: Victim or Perpetrator?

Abstract

Walther Birkmayer, an Austrian neurologist, codiscovered the efficacy of levodopa therapy for Parkinsonism in 1961. However, little has been published regarding Birkmayer's ties to National Socialism. Through documentary review, we have determined that he was an early illegal member of the SS and the Nazi party, taking part in the "de-Jewification" of the Vienna University Clinic of Psychiatry and Neurology. He also was a leader in the Nazi racial policy office and was praised for his dedication and fanaticism despite being forced to later resign from the SS. He sought support from leading Viennese Nazis, and was able to maintain his professional status for the war's remainder. Postwar, he succeeded at reintegration personally and professionally into Austrian society, all but erasing any obvious ties to his Nazi past. His story reflects ethical transgressions regarding professional and personal behavior in response to a tyrannical regime and provides lessons for today's neuroscientists.

Ilya Mark Scheinker: Controversial Neuroscientist and Refugee From National Socialist Europe

“…5p. 14 After Scheinker suffered a myocardial infarction in 1950, and divorced his wife around whom much of his social circle revolved, he decided to move to New York. In his response to Aring's letter mentioned previously, Wechsler stated that Aring "gave expression" and "awakened" feelings he already experienced about "our foreign friends" such as Scheinker (Figure 4).…”

The Central Role of Neuroscientists under National Socialism

“…He also conducted early work on combining carbidopa with levodopa to increase its efficacy in the late 1960s and helped design the first selective monoamine oxidase-B inhibitor, L-deprenyl (Selegiline), for Parkinsonism in the mid-1970s. He founded the Birkmayer Institute for Parkinsonism Therapy in Vienna [39] .…”

“…Not only Gleichschaltung of neuroscience but also the 'de-Jewification' of the profession was required to facilitate the sterilization, murder, and subsequent neurological research in the Nazi era [8,24,34,39] . Consistent with the anti-Semitism entrenched in German neurology that had long pre-dated but that escalated during the Nazi regime, many Nazi and SA neuroscientists eagerly helped expel Jewish colleagues from academic positions and insurance panels.…”

“…Within 5 years, Jewish doctors even in private practice were de-licensed and reduced to mere 'Jewish sick treaters', restricted to seeing only Jewish patients or working at Jewish hospitals [34] . The mass expulsion or general professional marginalization of 6,000-8,000 Jewish doctors from Germany [40] , including up to one-third of Austro-German neuroscientists [8] , had two primary effects: (1) opportunistic 'Aryan' neuroscientists filled the vacated positions and helped implement eugenics policies on neuropsychiatric patients [24,39,41] , and (2) Jewish neuroscientists, not believed to be ideologically synchronized with Nazi policies, could not resist eugenics measures on patients [40] . The Nazis eventually wanted to eliminate the Jewish 'parasite' from Germany to protect the German gene pool.…”

Balancing contested meanings of creativity and pathology in Parkinson’s Disease

“…66 Having discovered the dramatic loss of nigrostriatal dopamine, Hornykiewicz persuaded Walter Birkmayer, an ex-SS officer who was now working at the Vienna Geriatric Hospital in Lainz, to administer L-DOPA to twenty Parkinson's Disease patients. 67 L-DOPA is the naturally occurring L-isomer of the amino acid D, L-dihydroxyphenylalanine. In 1938, Peter Holz had discovered that the enzyme L-amino acid decarboxylase (DOPA) converts the biologically inert L-DOPA into the biologically active catecholamine dopamine.…”