Commemoration of the German Society of Gastroenterology
In memory of

Dr. med.
Edwin Jakob Picard
1889 - 1942

Dissertation, Munich 1913
Dissertation, Munich 1913

Member since 1928

Studies in Munich, Freiburg (Breisgau), and Strasbourg

Licence to practice in Peru

Announcement of the establishment of his practice, Berliner Tageblatt, 01 December 1922
Announcement of the establishment of his practice, Berliner Tageblatt, 01 December 1922

Dr. med. Edwin Jakob Picard

  • Constance, 0‌6‌.‌0‌5‌.‌1‌8‌8‌9‌
  • Lima, Peru, 2‌1‌.‌0‌6‌.‌1‌9‌4‌2‌
  • Member since 1928
  • Escaped to Peru in 1938
  • Berlin
  • Surgeon and urologist in private practice

Edwin Jakob Picard was born in Constance in 1889. His parents were Moses and Regina Picard.

 

Education and Places of Work

After graduating from high school in 1908, Edwin J. Picard studied medicine in Munich, Freiburg (Breisgau), Strasbourg, and again in Munich. He passed the state examination in Munich in the winter semester of 1913/14 and received his doctorate with the thesis “Über den Einfluss der Muskelarbeit auf den Cholesteringehalt des Blutes und der Nebennierenrinde”. He obtained his licence to practise medicine on 1 August 1914.

Picard actively participated in the First World War in Belgium (Flanders) and later headed a military hospital in Bavaria.

After his surgical and urological training, he worked as a practising surgeon and urologist in Berlin from 1922. At the same time, he operated at the Franziskus Hospital in Berlin together with the leading urologist of the time, Leopold Casper. They jointly published the “Lehrbuch der urologischen Diagnostik” in 1930.

Announcement of the establishment of his practice, Berliner Tageblatt, 01 December 1922
Announcement of the establishment of his practice, Berliner Tageblatt, 01 December 1922

 

After 1933

Picard lost his health insurance licence in 1933. He was forbidden to operate at the Franziskus Hospital in Berlin. He could still operate at the private clinic of the surgeon Ernst Unger until 1936 sporadically. This was no longer possible, when the Nazi authorities forced Unger to sell his clinic.

 

Escape to Peru in 1938 

Picard fled Germany in 1938, first to the Netherlands and then to England. He and his wife left Liverpool on 14 July 1938 aboard the British ocean liner Orbita, which operated on the Liverpool-Panama Canal-Valparaiso route, to the port city of Callao in Peru and from there to Lima.

He was stripped of his German citizenship on 15 April 1940. His doctorate was revoked by decision of the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich in July 1940.

In Peru, the 50-year-old Picard had to redo multiple examinations in order to obtain a licence to practise medicine. He was only able to practise for two years.

Edwin Jacob Picard died in Lima in 1942 at the age of 53.

Publications

  1. Mit Leopold Casper: Lehrbuch der urologischen Diagnostik. Leipzig: Georg Thieme Verlag, 1930

Sources and Further Reading
Sources
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Sources/Literature/Weblinks

Biographie of Dr. med. Edwin Jakob Picard

Bibliography

  • Deutscher Reichsanzeiger und Preußischer Staatsanzeiger 25.7.1940
  • Picard EJ. Dissertation: Über den Einfluss der Muskelarbeit auf den Cholesteringehalt des Blutes und der Nebenniere. München; 1913: 14

Literature

  • Harrecker S. Degradierte Doktoren. Die Aberkennung der Doktorwürde an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München während der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus. München: Herbert Utz Verlag; 2007: 340
  • Schwoch R. [Hg] Berliner Jüdische Kassenärzte und ihr Schicksal im Nationalsozialismus. Ein Gedenkbuch. Berlin: Hentrich & Hentrich Verlag 2009: 683