Annals of Anatomy 237 (2021) 151693

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Annals of Anatomy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/aanat

RESEARCH ARTICLE

The Medical University of Vienna and the legacy of Pernkopf’s

anatomical atlas: Elsevier’s donation of the original drawings to the
Josephinum
Herwig Czech a,∗ , Christiane Druml a , Markus Müller b , Max Voegler c , Andrea Beilmann d ,
Nick Fowler e
a
Medical University of Vienna, Department of Ethics, Collections, and History of Medicine (Josephinum), Austria
b
Medical University of Vienna, Austria
c
Global Strategic Networks, Elsevier GmbH, Berlin, Germany
d
Elsevier GmbH, München, Germany
e
Elsevier BV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Eduard Pernkopf (1888–1955) became head of the Second Anatomical Institute in 1933, dean of the
Received 29 January 2021 medical faculty in 1938 with the Annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany, and rector of the University
Accepted 29 January 2021 of Vienna in 1943. He gained worldwide recognition with his anatomical atlas, which many consider
Available online 23 February 2021
unequaled to this day. In the decades that followed, suspicion arose that the drawings were made using
corpses of people who had been victims of Nazi persecution and, following international inquiries and
Keywords:
critique, the University of Vienna appointed a historical commission to the matter. The commission
History of anatomy
published its results in 1998, concluding that anatomical specimens used for the illustrations in Pernkopf’s
Vienna Anatomical Institute
Anatomical illustrations atlas had in all likelihood been made using corpses of victims of the Nazi judicial system. In total, the
National socialism Anatomical Institute received the corpses of at least 1377 executed people, including many members of
Nazi victims the anti-Nazi resistance.
Eduard Pernkopf Through the acquisition of Pernkopf’s original publisher Urban & Schwarzenberg in 2003, the original
Pernkopf atlas drawings and the publishing rights went to Elsevier. While existing copies of Pernkopf’s Anatomy remain
in use, printing or licensing of the atlas or its illustrations were stopped in 1994, inducing an effective ban
on publishing the illustrations in other contexts, for example in works dealing with history and ethics of
anatomy.
In December 2019, Elsevier donated the remaining original drawings and proofs to the Medical Univer-
sity of Vienna, ensuring that these returned to the institution where they originated. They are now part
of the university’s historical collections held at the Josephinum. Moreover, the transfer of the originals
to Vienna ensures appropriate archiving and conservation, cataloging and digitization, as well as access
to the illustrations for historical and related research.
© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier GmbH. This is an open access article under the CC
BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Background color anatomic illustration.”1 Therefore, the original drawings pro-

Pernkopf’s Anatomy, according to a widely held opinion, is a
masterpiece among traditional anatomical atlases and represents,
in the words of one of its most ardent students, “the pinnacle of
duced for the atlas constitute an important element of anatomy’s
cultural and scientific heritage. The inextricable connections of the
work and its main creator with Austria’s Nazi past add another
layer to the collection’s significance. It is against this background
that Elsevier decided in 2019 to donate the remaining originals
to the Medical University of Vienna, whose historical collections
are today kept at the Josephinum, a late-18th-century palais built

∗ Corresponding author at: Medical University of Vienna, Department of Ethics,

Collections, and History of Medicine (Josephinum), Währinger Straße 25, 1090
1
Vienna, Austria. Williams (1988). Among the authors who share this view are Hildebrandt (2006),
E-mail address: herwig.czech@meduniwien.ac.at (H. Czech). Yee et al. (2018b).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aanat.2021.151693
0940-9602/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier GmbH. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/
4.0/).
H. Czech, C. Druml, M. Müller et al.
under emperor Joseph II as a military-surgical academy that has
served since 1920 for the study of the history of medicine. The aim
of the present paper is to inform the anatomical community of this
important step towards a musealization of the Pernkopf collection,
to describe its present state and to lay out principles for its handling
in the future.
Pernkopf’s book was first published in German as a combina-
tion of textbook and atlas, under the title Topographische Anatomie
des Menschen. Lehrbuch und Atlas der regionär-stratigraphischen
Präparation (Topographical Anatomy of Man. Textbook and Atlas of
Regional-Stratigraphic Preparation), between 1937 and 1960: vol-
ume I was first published in two books in 1937, before Austria’s
Annexation to Nazi Germany; volume II in two books in 1941,
during WWII; after the war, volume III in one book in 1952; and
volume IV posthumously in two books in 1957 and, edited by
Alexander Pichler, in 1960 (Pernkopf, 1937–1960).2 For the second
edition, published in two volumes in 1963 and 1964, the editor
Helmut Ferner dropped Pernkopf’s extremely detailed descrip-
tions, allowing for easy translation and thus laying the basis for
the international success of successive foreign language editions
(Pernkopf, 1963–1964a; in English as Pernkopf, 1963–1964b).3
In 1987, volume I of a third edition, edited by Werner Platzer,
appeared, followed by volume II in 1989 (Pernkopf, 1987/1989;
English version Pernkopf, 1989–1990). An edition in one volume
was published in 1994 (Pernkopf, 1994). Between 1960 and 1998,
versions were also published in Spanish, Italian, French, Japanese
and modern Greek.4
Eduard Pernkopf was born in 1888 in Rappottenstein, a remote
village in Lower Austria. He graduated in medicine from Vienna
University in 1912, became a lecturer in anatomy in 1921 and
associate professor in 1927. He was appointed head of the Second
Anatomical Institute in 1933, dean of the Faculty of Medicine in
1938, and rector of the University of Vienna in 1943. This stellar
career was possible because he was an early supporter of National
Socialism in Austria, joining the Nazi party in April 1933 and the
SA (storm troopers or Brownshirts) in January 1934. The timing
is relevant because the Austro-Fascist government outlawed the
Nazi party following a deadly terrorist attack in June 1933, forc-
ing its militants to renounce their allegiance, or to risk criminal
prosecution. Pernkopf’s continued loyalty during this period of
underground activity of the National Socialist movement paved
the way for his remarkable advancement after Austria’s annexa-
tion to Germany. As dean of the Faculty of Medicine from March
1938, he was instrumental in integrating ‘race hygiene’ and other
elements of Nazi ideology in the medical curriculum, and in imple-
menting anti-Jewish policies and the purge of political opponents
that led to the dismissal of more than half of the professors and
university lecturers. In 1945 he was dismissed from his university
positions as ‘politically heavily incriminated’ and interned for two
years in a denazification camp run by the US forces in Salzburg.
After his release, he was, until his early death in 1955, able to
continue working on his atlas at Vienna University’s Institute of
Neurology, having access to the Anatomical Institute’s supply of
corpses (Malina, 1998).
The outlines of Pernkopf’s affiliation with National Socialism
were first documented in 1985 in an article which at the time of
its publication went largely unnoticed (Weissmann, 1985). In 1988,
the anatomical illustrator David J. Williams, based on information
received from Simon Wiesenthal, first publicly stated that many
of the cadavers received by the Vienna Anatomical Institute dur-
ing WWII were those of executed prisoners, in the formulation of
2 6
The first two volumes were reprinted in 1943.
3
In 1980, the second edition was completed by an index (Ferner, 1980a,b).
4
According to www.worldcat.org [accessed August 18, 2020].
2
Annals of Anatomy 237 (2021) 151693
Wiesenthal “non-Jewish Austrian patriots, communists and other
enemies of the Nazis,” raising the question if these had been used
for Pernkopf’s atlas. Williams furthermore documented the Nazi
allegiances of the primary illustrators employed by Pernkopf, Erich
Lepier (1898–1974), Ludwig Schrott (1906–1970), Karl Endtresser
(1903–1978), and Franz Batke (1903–1983), as well as various Nazi
symbols integrated in the original paintings, most (but not all) of
which were removed in later editions (Williams, 1986, 1988).5
It took further critical comments from concerned scholars like
Howard Israel and William Seidelman (Seidelman and Israel, 1996,
1997) and an official inquiry from Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance
Center Yad Vashem to induce the University of Vienna to institute
a Senatorial Commission to examine the issue. Because cadavers
were anonymized after arriving at the institute, and because many
documents were lost after a bomb hit in 1945 it was not possible
to identify the specific individuals behind the anatomical illustra-
tions. Nevertheless, the commission documented the transfer of at
least 1377 corpses of executed people (including seven Jews) to the
Anatomical Institute, as well as thousands of corpses more from
public hospitals (but not from concentration camps, as had also
been alleged). Close to one hundred specimens derived from these
bodies were found in the collections of the Institute of Histology
and Embryology, while the Neurological Institute held specimens
from victims of the “child euthanasia” program at the Viennese
Spiegelgrund (Akademischer Senat der Univ. Wien Ed., 1998).6 The
evidence supported the conclusion that in all likelihood, a sizeable
number of the illustrations in the Pernkopf atlas were produced
using victims of the Nazi judicial system (Angetter, 2000; for criti-
cal reactions to Angetter’s report, see Hubenstorf, 2000; Seidelman
and Israel, 2000; and, more recently, Seidelman, 2012).
Following these revelations, a debate about what should be done
about the book ensued. As opposed to other examples of science
tainted by Nazi crimes, the scientific and artistic value of Pernkopf’s
atlas was not in dispute. Most authors also seemed to agree that the
atlas should continue to be accessible as a historical artifact, a testi-
mony to the involuntary body donors who had suffered at the hands
of the regime, an opportunity to commemorate the victims, and to
teach about the Nazi crimes and the medical professions’ involve-
ment (Wade, 1996; Israel, 1998; Riggs, 1998; Spann, 1998a; Atlas,
2001; Hubbard, 2001; for more recent summaries of relevant argu-
ments, see Pringle, 2010; Carstens, 2012; Hartsock and Beckman,
2019). Removing the books from libraries and trying to “unlearn”
the scientific knowledge contained in them was even likened to the
Nazis’ burning of books (Spiro, 1998). It is in this context that Else-
vier, upon acquiring Urban & Fischer in 2003 (the successor of the
original publisher Urban & Schwarzenberg), maintained the earlier
hold on the production of the Pernkopf atlas and the licensing of
the images now in its possession. Since then, scholars and medical
practitioners have placed the issue back on the table, advocating
for the continued use of the Pernkopf illustrations in anatomical
teaching, and in the preparation for surgical interventions, often
citing the unsurpassed quality of the images. The aim is to develop
an ethically sound approach that helps improve medical care and
includes commemoration of the historical circumstances and the
suffering of the victims (Hildebrandt, 2006; Coombs and Peitzman,
5
For the correspondence between Williams and Wiesenthal, including the sup-
porting documentation, see Vienna Wiesenthal Institute (VWI), SWA-I-1, Dossier
Eduard Pernkopf and Alexander Pichler. Using the body of people who were exe-
cuted has a long tradition in anatomy, and partly went on after WWII. For example,
the Visible Human Project used the body of an executed prisoner in 1993. The
man had given his consent, but the instance was nevertheless heavily criticized
as unethical because of its link to the death penalty (Roeggla et al., 1995).
At the Institute of Anatomy, close to one hundred specimens were removed from
the museum collection and buried because provenance from the Nazi period could
not be excluded (Angetter, 1998b).
H. Czech, C. Druml, M. Müller et al. Annals of Anatomy 237 (2021) 151693

2017; Polak, 2018; Polak and Grodin, 2018; Yee et al., 2018a, b;
Yee et al., 2018c; Hildebrandt and Seidelman, 2018; Caplan, 2019;
Müller et al., 2019; Hildebrandt, 2020; Kershner, 2020; Mackinnon,
2020). Against this backdrop, the donation of the original draw-
ings — as far as they have been preserved — acquires a heightened
significance.

2. The collection of original drawings and proofs

Pernkopf’s original publisher, Urban & Schwarzenberg, was

bought by the German Holtzbrinck group in 1998. In 1999, it was
merged with the publisher Gustav Fischer from Stuttgart, under
the company name Urban & Fischer. In 2003, Holtzbrinck sold
the company to Elsevier, including the drawings and proofs for
the successive editions of the Pernkopf atlas.7 In 2019, Sabine
Hildebrandt was allowed access to the collection and produced a
summary listing.8 Another list was established by the Josephinum
conservator Julia Wechselberger in January 2020, after the trans-
fer of the collection by Elsevier.9 Since then, a complete listing
has been established by Bernd Schulz, also from the Josephinum.
A comparison of these lists with the Pernkopf atlas shows that
the collection has sustained considerable losses since July 1998
when it was documented to still be nearly complete by the Vienna
Pernkopf Commission. At that time, the collection was kept at
Urban & Schwarzenberg’s location at Landwehrstraße 61 in Munich
(Angetter, 1998a). The losses, which will be described in detail
below, most likely occurred during the relocation in 2009 of the
Elsevier Germany office to its current location at Hackerbrücke in
Munich.10
Taking the two volumes of the third edition (Pernkopf,
1987/1989) as the reference, the losses from volume I (published
in 1987) comprise illustrations number 1 to 109, 280 to 310 and
335 to 403. From volume II (published in 1989), only the origi-
nals for illustrations 1 to 50 survived, but there is a complete set
of 388 proofs as a compensation. When referring to the original Fig. 1. Example for Ludwig Schrott’s work for the first volume of the first edition,
textbook and atlas, this translates into the preservation of approx. published in 1937 (preparation of the dorsal side of the forearm, between pp. 514
and 515) [MUW-ZE-003250-0005-0486r].
48 percent of original drawings of volume I (first published in two
parts in 1937), 19 percent of volume II (first published in two parts
in 1941), 34 percent of volume III (1952), and 64 percent of vol- of 43 by 61 cm. The overwhelming majority are watercolor paint-
ume IV (first published in two parts in 1957 and 1960). In all, not ings on paper, while a few are pencil drawings or sketches. The
counting x-ray images and other photos, 417 illustrations out of technique, as Williams already described in detail, involved the dry-
the first edition’s original 925 survived.11 The sizes of the originals brush technique, highly pigmented transparent watercolor, and
vary between a miniature measuring 5.5 by 7 cm to a maximum high-quality rag paper with a plate finish that was treated with
a mixture of oxen bile and water, and mounted on a board to dry
(Williams, 1988).
7
Medical University of Vienna, Ethics, Collections and History of Medicine In terms of complexity, they range from simple, schematic
(Josephinum), e-mail Andrea Beilmann, Elsevier Munich to Herwig Czech, June 9, sketches to the complex anatomical landscapes the Atlas is famous
2020. for. The drawings’ state of preservation is generally good, with
8
Medical University of Vienna, Ethics, Collections and History of Medicine only routine conservation measures necessary, such as cleaning,
(Josephinum), Sabine Hildebrandt, Quick overview of Pernkopf materials at Elsevier,
Hackerbruecke 6, Munich on March 20, 2019.
removal of metal and glue residue, and appropriate packaging. All
9
Medical University of Vienna, Ethics, Collections and History of Medicine drawings and proofs have been digitized as high-resolution image
(Josephinum), Julia Wechselberger, Zustandsprotokolle zu Anatomischen Zeichnun- files. All of the major contributing artists (Lepier, Endtresser, Batke,
gen von Eduard Pernkopf, January 29, 2020. Schrott, Figs. 1–4 ) are represented. The drawings, spanning all four
10
Medical University of Vienna, Ethics, Collections and History of Medicine
original volumes, include works from before, during and after the
(Josephinum), e-mail Andrea Beilmann, Elsevier Munich, to Herwig Czech, June 9,
2020. The paintings were transferred to the publisher upon completion. Pernkopf’s Nazi period. One of the necessary tasks ahead is to determine which
publisher Urban und Schwarzenberg was based in Berlin and Vienna until 1949, drawings could be based on the corpses of Nazi victims, and for
when its head office moved from Berlin to Munich. Volumes I, II and III (the latter which this can be excluded. Some bear the now well-known mark-
in 1952) were printed in Vienna, later volumes and editions in Germany – volume ings with Swastikas and other (possible) Nazi symbols such as the
IV was printed in Nördlingen, the second edition (two volumes in 1963 and 1964)
in Munich. The most likely assumption is that the paintings were originally kept at
sign of the SS.12 In some cases, series of successive proofs allow to
the publisher’s Vienna office and transferred to Munich between 1952 and 1963. reconstruct the retouching of Nazi symbols for the later editions
11
There are also close to 70 illustrations that were produced for later editions. The (Figs. 5–7 ).
system designating the illustrations (using numbers and letters, sometimes com-
plemented by Greek letters and Roman numerals) is not consistent between the
different volumes and the later editions. For this overview, we follow — where pos-
12
sible — the system of the third edition, where many illustrations that were previously The Swastika that Erich Lepier included in many of his signatures first appeared
lumped together (as a,b,c. . .) received their own numbers. These figures can slightly in 1937, when the Nazi party and its symbols were illegal in Austria (Pernkopf,
differ from the number of the original painted sheets. 1937–1960, Volume I, Book 1, Tafel 20).

3
H. Czech, C. Druml, M. Müller et al. Annals of Anatomy 237 (2021) 151693

Fig. 3. Karl Endtresser produced many of the paintings for volume 3 of the first
edition, which was published in 1952, when the Institute of Anatomy still held many
bodies from the National Socialist period (Czech, 2015) (preparation of the viscera of
the neck from the back, between pp. 186 and 187) [MUW-ZE-003250-0005-0205r].

Fig. 2. One of Lepier’s works for volume 2 of the first edition, published in 1941 (Situs
viscerum abdominis towards the end of pregnancy, p. 590) [MUW-ZE-003250-0005-
0455r].

3. The future of the Pernkopf collection at the Josephinum

By taking on the donation, the Medical University of Vienna

accepts the ethical and historical responsibilities that come with
the charge of such sensitive material. In the contract of donation,
the Medical University commits to store the originals permanently
as part of the university’s collections and to make them accessible
for scholarly purposes ensuring an appropriate and sensitive his-
torical contextualization of the subject-matter. With the donation,
Elsevier also grants the publishing rights to the Medical Univer-
sity — subject to approval if more than three illustrations are to
be used within the same work, and with the exception of com-
mercial use in anatomical textbooks and comparable works. There
is a common understanding between the parties, enshrined in
the contract, that the transfer of the Pernkopf originals to Vienna
marks a step best described as their musealization. Their charac-
ter as medico-scientific artefacts recedes into the background as
they become objects of historical reflection and commemoration.
Given the well-documented use of corpses from contexts involv-
ing National Socialist injustices for at least part of the illustrations,
their use will only be authorized if an appropriate and sensitive
historical contextualization is guaranteed.
In the future, as their medical relevance fades, the primary
context in which these illustrations will appear is expected to
be the history and ethics of anatomy and related topics. Exam- Fig. 4. One of Franz Batke’s many paintings of the brain. This work was produced
ples of the collection will be on display at the museum in the in 1952 and published in volume 4 of the first edition in 1957 (between pp. 206 and
newly renovated Josephinum, expected to open in 2022, in order 207) [MUW-ZE-003250-0005-0133r].
to illustrate this important chapter of history. In this and other
contexts, the Medical University of Vienna will make sure that

4
H. Czech, C. Druml, M. Müller et al. Annals of Anatomy 237 (2021) 151693

Fig. 5. The first swastikas in Erich Lepier’s signatures appeared in 1937, when the National Socialist party was still banned in Austria. On top, the image as it appeared in
volume I of the first edition (between pp. 290 and 291). Below are details from the atlas, the orignal drawing and the proof, the latter two with the Nazi symbol retouched
[MUW-ZE-003250-0005-0186].

5
H. Czech, C. Druml, M. Müller et al. Annals of Anatomy 237 (2021) 151693

Fig. 7. Karl Endtresser and Franz Batke included what looks like the symbol of the
SS in some of their signatures. The commission considered these signs as more
ambiguous and ultimately inconclusive evidence of National Socialist sentiments
than Lepier’s Swastikas (Spann, 1998b). (a) Shows the incriminated number “44”
Fig. 6. In this example, first published in 1941 in volume II (between pp. 76 and
written by Batke (detail of panel 13 in volume III, between pp. 50 and 51). In 1941
77), successive proofs illustrate the retouching process (6a is a detail from the 1941
(b) and 1946 (c), Batke wrote the “4” differently, suggesting that he indeed adapted
edition of the atlas, 6b to 6d are details of the proofs for the 1989 edition. The red
his signature in 1944 to resemble the runic insignia of the SS. However, as the detail
sign in 6c means ‘deleatur’, to be deleted) [MUW-AD-003250-0006].
of an otherwise unrelated government document from 1946 shows (d), this partic-
ular way of writing the number “4” also appeared in contexts where no reference to
the SS can be reasonably assumed.

6
H. Czech, C. Druml, M. Müller et al.
the fate of the victims whose bodies were delivered to the Insti-
tute of Anatomy under the responsibility of Pernkopf will be duly
acknowledged.
Conflict of interest statement
AB, NF and MV are employees of Elsevier and facilitated the
donation of the drawings to the Josephinum. MM, CD and HC
declare no conflicts of interest.
Ethical statement
No research on human subjects was involved.
Funding statement
No external funds were used for this research.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Herwig Czech: Writing - original draft, Writing - review & edit-
ing. Christiane Druml: Project administration, Writing - review
& editing. Markus Müller: Supervision. Max Voegler: Writing -
review & editing. Andrea Beilmann: Writing - review & editing.
Nick Fowler: Supervision.
Acknowledgements
Sabine Hildebrandt (Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medi-
cal School) was instrumental in making the transfer of the collection
to Vienna possible. Julia Wechselberger, Bernd Schulz and Jakob
Lehne are in charge of the collection at the Josephinum and pro-
vided valuable input for this article. Last but not least, the authors
wish to thank Oonagh Hayes for her help with editing the final
text.
References
Akademischer Senat der Univ. Wien (Ed.), 1998. Untersuchungen zur anatomis-
chen Wissenschaft in Wien 1938–1945. Senatsprojekt der Universität Wien,
Wien.
Angetter, D., 1998a. Überprüfung der Originale der Abbildungen der Anatomischen
Atlanten, beim Verlag Urban & Schwarzenberg in München, Landwehrstraße 61.
In: Akademischer Senat der Univ. Wien (Ed.), Untersuchungen zur anatomis-
chen Wissenschaft in Wien 1938–1945. Senatsprojekt der Universität Wien.
Akademischer Senat der Univ. Wien, Wien, pp. 387–410.
Angetter, D., 1998b. Überprüfung der Präparate des Anatomischen Museums der
Universität Wien, 1090 Wien, Währingerstraße 13. In: Akademischer Senat
der Univ. Wien (Ed.), Untersuchungen zur anatomischen Wissenschaft in Wien
1938–1945. Senatsprojekt der Universität Wien, Wien, pp. 198–217.
Angetter, D., 2000. Anatomical science at University of Vienna 1938–45. Lancet,
1454–1457.
Atlas, M., 2001. Ethics and access to teaching materials in the medical library: the
case of the Pernkopf atlas. Bull. Med. Libr. Assoc. 89, 51–58.
Caplan, A.L., 2019. Commentary: Consulting evil. Surgery 165, 870.
Carstens, P., 2012. Revisiting the infamous Pernkopf anatomy atlas: historical lessons
for medical law and ethics. Fundamina 18, 23–49.
Coombs, D.M., Peitzman, S.J., 2017. Medical Students’ Assessment of Eduard
Pernkopf’s Atlas: Topographical Anatomy of Man. Ann. Anat. 212, 11–16.
Czech, H., 2015. Von der Richtstätte auf den Seziertisch. Zur anatomischen Ver-
wertung von NS-Opfern in Wien, Innsbruck und Graz. Feindbilder. Jahrbuch
des Dokumentationsarchivs des österreichischen Widerstandes 2015., pp. 141–
190.
Ferner, H., 1980a. Pernkopf Atlas der topographischen Anatomie des Menschen. Reg-
isterband zur 2. Auflage. Urban & Schwarzenberg, München/Wien/Baltimore.
Ferner, H., 1980b. Pernkopf Atlas of Topographical and Applied Human Anatomy.
Volume III: Index for the 2nd Edition. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Balti-
more/Munich.
Hartsock, J.A., Beckman, E., 2019. A human paradox: the Nazi legacy of Pernkopf’s
atlas. Conatus J. Philos. 4, 317–339.
Hildebrandt, S., 2006. How the Pernkopf controversy facilitated a historical and
ethical analysis of the anatomical sciences in Austria and Germany: a recom-
mendation for the continued use of the Pernkopf atlas. Clin. Anat. 19, 91–100.
7
Annals of Anatomy 237 (2021) 151693
Hildebrandt, S., 2020. The Vienna protocol: medicine’s confrontation with continu-
ing legacies of its Nazi past. Ann. Anat. 229, 1–4.
Hildebrandt, S., Seidelman, W.E., 2018. To use or not to use: the legitimacy of using
unethically obtained scientific results or human tissues from the National Social-
ist era. Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. 130, 228–230.
Hubbard, C., 2001. Eduard Pernkopf’s atlas of topographical and applied human
anatomy: the continuing ethical controversy. Anat. Rec. 265, 207–211.
Hubenstorf, M., 2000. Anatomical science in Vienna, 1938–45. Lancet 355,
1385–1386.
Israel, H., 1998. The Nazi Origins of Eduard Pernkopf’s Topographische Anatomie des
Menschen: the biomedical ethical issues. Ref. Libr., 131–146.
Kershner, I., 2020. In Israel, Modern Medicine Grapples With Ghosts of the Third
Reich. New York Times.
Mackinnon, S.E., 2020. When medical information comes from Nazi atrocities. Br.
Med. J. 368, l7075.
Malina, P., 1998. Eduard Pernkopf. Versuch einer “stratigraphischen” Biographie. In:
Akademischer Senat der Univ. Wien (Ed.), Untersuchungen zur anatomischen
Wissenschaft in Wien 1938–1945. Senatsprojekt der Universität Wien, Wien,
pp. 420–458.
Müller, M., Czech, H., Druml, C., 2019. Commentary: The Medical Univer-
sity of Vienna and the historic legacy of Pernkopf’s atlas. Surgery 165,
871–872.
Pernkopf, E., 1994. Pernkopf-Anatomie: Atlas der topographischen und ange-
wandten Anatomie des Menschen, Ed. Werner Platzer. Urban & Schwarzenberg,
München/Wien/Baltimore.
Pernkopf, E., 1960. Topographische Anatomie des Menschen, Band 1 bis 4. Urban
und Schwarzenberg, Berlin/Wien/München.
Pernkopf, E., 1963–1964a. Atlas der topographischen und angewandten Anatomie
des Menschen in zwei Bänden, herausgegeben von Helmut Ferner. Erster
Band: Kopf und Hals. Zweiter Band: Brust, Bauch und Extremitäten. Urban &
Schwarzenberg, München/Berlin.
Pernkopf, E., 1963–1964b. Atlas of topographical and applied human anatomy. Vol-
ume 1: Head and neck, 1963. Volume 2: Thorax, abdomen and extremities, 1964.
W.B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia and London.
Pernkopf, E., 1987/1989. Pernkopf Anatomie: Atlas der topographischen und ange-
wanten Anatomie des Menschen, Ed. Werner Platzer. Erster Band: Kopf und
Hals. Zweiter Band: Brust, Bauch und Extremitäten. Urban & Schwarzenberg,
München/Wien/Baltimore.
Pernkopf, E., 1989–1990. Pernkopf anatomy: atlas of topographic and applied human
anatomy, ed. Werner Platzer. Vol. 1, Head and Neck. Vol. 2, Thorax, abdomen and
extremities. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Baltimore/München.
Polak, R.J.A., 2018. Vienna protocol for when Jewish or possibly-Jewish human
remains are discovered. In: Czech, H., Druml, C., Weindling, P. (Eds.), Medical
Ethics in the 70 Years after the Nuremberg Code, 1947 to the Present. Inter-
national Conference at the Medical University of Vienna, 2nd and 3rd March
2017. Wiener klinische Wochenschrift 130 (Supplement 3). Springer, Wien, pp.
S239–S243.
Polak, R.J.A., Grodin, M.A., 2018. Letter: nerve surgeons’ assessment of the role of
Eduard Pernkopf’s atlas of topographic and applied human anatomy in surgical
practice. Neurosurgery 83, E188.
Pringle, H., 2010. Confronting anatomy’s Nazi past. Science 329, 274–275.
Riggs, G., 1998. What should we do about Eduard Pernkopf’s atlas? Acad. Med. 73,
380–386.
Roeggla, G., Landesmann, U., Roeggla, M., 1995. Ethics of executed person on Internet
(Letter). Lancet 345, 260.
Seidelman, W.E., 2012. Dissecting the history of anatomy in the Third
Reich—1989–2010: a personal account. Ann. Anat. 194, http://dx.doi.org/10.
1016/j.aanat.2011.1011.1013.
Seidelman, W.E., Israel, H., 1996. Nazi origins of an anatomy text: the Pernkopf atlas.
JAMA 276, 1633.
Seidelman, W.E., Israel, H., 1997. Nazi origins of the Pernkopf atlas: in reply. JAMA
277, 1123.
Seidelman, W.E., Israel, H., 2000. Anatomy in Vienna. Lancet 356, 343.
Spann, G., 1998a. Die internationale Diskussion um Eduard Pernkopfs Atlas
“Topographische Anatomie des Menschen” und die anatomische Wissenschaft
in Wien 1938/1945 (Zusammenfassung). In: Akademischer Senat der Univ. Wien
(Ed.), Untersuchungen zur anatomischen Wissenschaft in Wien 1938–1945.
Senatsprojekt der Universität Wien, Wien, pp. 17–28.
Spann, G., 1998b. Untersuchung der Verdachtsmomente betreffend die Abbildungen
im Anatomieatlas von Eduard Pernkopf. In: Akademischer Senat der Univ. Wien
(Ed.), Untersuchungen zur anatomischen Wissenschaft in Wien 1938–1945.
Senatsprojekt der Universität Wien, Wien, pp. 369–386.
Spiro, H.M., 1998. The silence of words: some thoughts on the Pernkopf atlas. Wien.
Klin. Wochenschr. 110, 183–184.
Wade, N., 1996. Doctors Question Use of Nazi’s Medical Atlas. New York Times.
Weissmann, G., 1985. Springtime for Pernkopf. Hospital Practice., pp. 142–168.
Williams, D.J., 1986. Eduard Pernkopf and the Pernkopf painters. In:
Actes/Proceedings of the XXX. International Congress of the History of
Medicine Düsseldorf 1986, Düsseldorf, n/a, pp. 524–533.
Williams, D., 1988. The history of Eduard Pernkopf’s Topographische Anatomie des
Menschen. J. Biocommun. 15, 12.
Yee, A., Coombs, D.M., Hildebrandt, S., Seidelman, W.E., Coert, J.H., Mackinnon, S.E.,
2018a. In reply: Nerve surgeons’ assessment of the role of Eduard Pernkopf’s
Atlas of topographic and applied human anatomy in surgical practice. Neuro-
surgery 83, E189.
H. Czech, C. Druml, M. Müller et al. Annals of Anatomy 237 (2021) 151693

Yee, A., Coombs, D.M., Hildebrandt, S., Seidelman, W.E., Coert, J.H., Mackinnon, S.E., Yee, A., Zubovic, E., Yu, J., Ray, S., Hildebrandt, S., Seidelman, W.E., Polak, R.J.A., Grodin,
2018b. Nerve surgeons’ assessment of the role of Eduard Pernkopf’s atlas of M.A., Coert, H., Brown, D., Kodner, I.J., Mackinnon, S.E., 2018c. Ethical consider-
topographic and applied human anatomy in surgical practice. Neurosurgery 84, ations in the use of Pernkopf’s atlas of anatomy: a surgical case study. Surgery
491–498. 165, 860–867.