[Encounter of the Ernst von Bergmann and Erwin Payrs surgical schools at the Jena University Clinic].

This paper gives a short historical overview on the work of distinguished Professors such as Erich Lexer, Nikolai Guleke, Heinrich Kuntzen and Theo Becker, who worked in the Surgical University Hospital in Jena from 1911 to 1981. The main areas of their clinical and scientific activities are described, as well as the private and human qualities of these well-known personalities.