From SS-Obersturmbannführer to dentist president: The astonishing career of Gerhardt Steinhardt*

Introduction: Until 2022, Gerhardt Steinhardt has been the only university lecturer to be elected both President of the DGZMK and the DGMKG. At the same time, he is the only DGZMK president with an SS membership in the Third Reich. This paper looks at Steinhart's life and work, and in particular clarifies how these seemingly irreconcilable findings fit together. Material and methods: The central basis of the study are primary sources from the Schleswig-Holstein State Archives and various file collections from the Federal Archives in Berlin. In addition, a critical reanalysis of secondary literature by and about Steinhardt was carried out, with special reference to a dissertation on the life and work of Gerhard Steinhardt published in 2004. Results: Steinhardt was one of the leading professors in the Federal Republic of Germany, especially with his contributions to the physiology and pathology of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and his clinical expertise as a maxillofacial surgeon. He was also regarded as an assertive professional politician. During the Third Reich, he joined the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers' Party), the SS (Schutzstaffel) and other Nazi organisations, resigned from the church in accordance with Nazi ideology and took on various political tasks. After 1945 he was enacted for political reasons but managed a return to the university in the 1950s. Discussion and conclusion: Steinhardt was extraordinarily well connected both during the Nazi era and in the Federal Republic. He also impressed with his broad education and professional versatility. Politically, he showed himself to be strongly adapted in both systems. In the Third Reich he appeared as a convinced National Socialist and used his political network to establish a career. After 1945 he tried to construct a distance to Nazi ideology through a series of deliberately false statements. In the end, he was able not only to continue his university career, but even to expand it considerably. He also achieved high social honors. * In 2022, the DGZMK Board unanimously passed a resolution to posthumously revoke the honours awarded to Gerhard Steinhardt (Honorary Fellowship, Golden Badge of honour) due to his political entanglement in the Third Reich. Keywords: maxillofacial surgery, National Socialism, SS (Schutzstaffel), temporomandibular, joint, Würzburg