8. The 'Gesundheitsstammbuch' as a measure of hereditary and racial biology

[Detailed catalog text in german]

Starting from the summer semester of 1939, the Health Service of the Vienna Student Union distributed the Gesundheitsstammbuch - or ‘Family Health Record’ - to all newly enrolled regular male and female students of the then State Academy of Music and Performing Arts. This was one of the actions of National Socialist health policy, whose aim was to carry out social “selection” in line with the prevailing genetic and racial biological ideology.

Family Health Record Table of Irregularities, Scan copyright Alfons Labisch
Family Health Record Table of Irregularities, Scan copyright Alfons Labisch

The Gesundheitsstammbuch recorded, primarily, the “functional performance state,” as well as any physical and mental “abnormalities.” A “genealogical chart” was intended to provide information about potential hereditary “deficiencies.” People deemed as “carriers of anomalies” were excluded from the “public welfare assistance” of the National Socialist People’s Welfare. This assistance included milk supplements, school meals, countryside evacuations, recreational camps, spa stays, and provisions for beds and living quarters.

The Gesundheitsstammbuch was introduced in Nazi Germany in the mid-1930s by the Main Office of Public Health and was mainly used in mass organisations such as the Hitler Youth. At the colleges and universities, it was used in connection with “mandatory examinations” and “screenings.”

From the summer semester of 1939, all newly enrolled students at the mdw* were required to undergo such “mandatory examinations,” while all students from the second semester onward had to undergo “screening.” These “screenings” were a prerequisite for the continuation of studies. The implementation and control of these “screenings” required considerable administrative effort: The Reichstudentenwerk (the national student services organisation during the National Socialist era) - produced announcements, reminders, and censure letters, as well as lists of the names of those who had not yet undergone “screenings” at the beginning of each semester.