Robert Koch Institute: Medical experiments in the colonies – Germany | Uganda | Tanzania
Themed tours
Joachim Zeller, 2024
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), headquartered in Wedding, is now a federal agency for infectious and non-communicable diseases. As a public health facility, it has become known to a broad majority of the population, especially since the Corona pandemic of 2020.
The institute is named after Robert Koch (1843-1910), who, along with Louis Pasteur, is considered the most essential founder of scientific bacteriology. The physician, microbiologist, and hygienist rose to world fame with his anthrax research, the discovery of the cholera pathogen, and especially, the discovery of the pathogen that causes tuberculosis.
Less well-known is Robert Koch's involvement in (German) colonialism. The scientist, also considered the founder of tropical medicine and hygiene in Germany, repeatedly pointed out that the fight against tropical diseases - especially malaria - "would be equivalent to the peaceful conquest of the most beautiful and fertile countries on earth." In his view, bacteriology and colonialism shared a common dream: "mastering" diseases such as "tropical fever."
This text is an edited excerpt from the book “Berlin. Eine postkoloniale Metropole.”
Quote: Koch, Robert: Ärztliche Beobachtungen in den Tropen, 1898, S. 343.
References:
Bauche, Manuela: Robert Koch, die Schlafkrankheit und Menschenexperimente im kolonialen Ostafrika, Freiburg postkolonial, 2006.
Besser, Stephan: Die hygienische Eroberung Afrikas, in: Honold, Alexander / Scherpe, Klaus R. (Hrsg.): Mit Deutschland um die Welt. Eine Kulturgeschichte des Fremden in der Kolonialzeit, 2004, S. 217-225.
Eckart, Wolfgang U.: Ein Bakteriologe für die Kolonien, in: Van der Heyden, Ulrich / Zeller, Joachim (Hrsg.): Kolonialmetropole Berlin. Eine Spurensuche, 2002, S. 102-107.
Eckart, Wolfgang U.: Medizin und Kolonialimperialismus. Deutschland 1884-1945, 1997.
Stationen
The Institute of Infectious Diseases
Expeditions to the “sleeping sickness”
Internment plans: Sleeping sickness treatment camp
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