
Leopold Freund (1868-1943) founded the "Vienna School of Radiotherapy", which laid the scientific foundations for today’s radiation oncology. To commemorate him and his persecution under National Socialism, a "Stone of Remembrance" has now been placed in front of his home on Vienna’s Graben.
Just one year after discovering X-rays, Leopold Freund, as a young doctor, used them to treat an animal nevus (skin malformation) in a five-year-old girl. He published this therapy, which he carried out in 1896, in the "Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift".
Together with several colleagues, he founded the "Vienna School of Radiotherapy", where groundbreaking discoveries were made. These included the development of dosimetry, the measurement of radiation doses, as well as the first biological findings, for example that radiation has less effect with less oxygen supply in the tissue.
In 1904, he and his colleagues were the first doctors to habilitate in medical radiology at the University of Vienna. At this time, he published the first textbook on radiology. The "Vienna School of Radiotherapy" was one of the world’s leading groups until the Anschluss in 1938, when Jewish doctors were no longer welcome.
Escape from the National Socialists to Belgium
From 1938, Leopold Freund, who was already 70 years old at the time, and his wife Stefanie tried to obtain visas to emigrate. It was only thanks to his scientific reputation and the intervention of Belgian colleagues that they were able to emigrate to Brussels in 1939. As in all these cases, emigration was only permitted after the Freund couple had handed over all their valuables, possessions and financial reserves and paid the "Reich flight tax". Leopold Freund died in exile in Belgium in 1943, Stefanie Freund survived the Holocaust and died in Brussels in 1949 without returning to Vienna.
In memory of the scientific foundations for radiation oncology laid by Leopold Freund and his persecution under National Socialism, a Stone of Remembrance was placed in front of his home at Graben 12 on the initiative of MedUni Vienna’s Department of Radiation Oncology and was opened today. In addition to Rector Markus Müller, the presidents of the Austrian and German societies for radiation oncology and representatives of the Jewish Community were present.
The history of Leopold Freund will be presented today, October 21, in a medical history symposium at MedUni Vienna. Information