Legend or Truth? The supposed distance of the German pathologist Maximilian Borst (1869-1946) from National Socialism.

The German physician Maximilian Borst (1869-1946) was undoubtedly one of the best-known and most renowned pathologists worldwide of his time. His work on tissue transplantation and cancer research set international standards. Furthermore his career in Germany was also almost unprecedented: He was appointed to a chair of pathology at a young age during the German Reich, continued his career seamlessly in the Weimar Republic and was even able to expand his career in the Third Reich. Finally, after the end of the Nazi regime, he was among the group of university teachers who were considered to be politically unencumbered. The background to this favourable classification - and to Borst's unbroken career - was the fact that he had not joined the NSDAP in the Third Reich. Accordingly, he was considered apolitical. But is this reading tenable in the case of Maximilian Borst and does it stand up to critical historical scrutiny? What was the nature of Borst's relationship to the Nazi regime and what was his political position? It is precisely these questions that are the focus of this article. The study is primarily based on archival sources. In addition, a systematic analysis was performed of the relevant international research literature on Max Borst's life and work and on the history of cancer research in the Third Reich in particular. The paper comes to the conclusion that Borst demonstrably served the Nazi regime after 1933. However, Borst's closeness and loyalty to the National Socialists was not revealed through formal memberships of organisations such as the NSDAP or the SS, but rather through a number of influential positions in the field of health policy which were offered to him during the Third Reich. There is no doubt that the transfer of such functions presupposed "political reliability" and "loyalty to the line" on the part of the officeholder. Borst's often assumed inner distance to politics in general and to National Socialism in particular is just as incorrect as his alleged harassment by the Nazi bureaucratic system.