Exactly 150 years ago, on April 1, 1875, the Reich Vaccination Act against smallpox came into force. It had already been passed on April 8, 1874.
The debate over vaccination is as old as compulsory vaccination in Germany. It was introduced in 1874 by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to combat smallpox. [...] Parents who refused to vaccinate their children faced fines or even imprisonment. [...]
During the Weimar Republic, the compulsory vaccination policy established in the German Empire was continued. [...]
The Nazis, however, were surprisingly lenient regarding vaccination mandates. The reason: Many among them were adherents of naturopathy, which generally rejected vaccinations.
Some Nazis even claimed that compulsory vaccination was a Jewish invention. In 1934, the "German Anti-Vaccination Doctors' League" alleged that the Reich Vaccination Act had primarily been drafted by "Jewish delegates." An anti-vaccination group from Wilhelmshaven went further, invoking the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in their propaganda, claiming that the "injection of diseases" was meant to subjugate humanity under "Jewish financial rule." Julius Streicher, founder and publisher of the hate-mongering newspaper *Der Stürmer*, even propagated the idea that "vaccinations were introduced by Jews as racial defilement," according to medical historian Thießen.
Source: https://www.mdr.de/geschichte/zeitg...t/impfgegner-impfen-zwangsimpfungen-100.html)
The debate over vaccination is as old as compulsory vaccination in Germany. It was introduced in 1874 by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to combat smallpox. [...] Parents who refused to vaccinate their children faced fines or even imprisonment. [...]
During the Weimar Republic, the compulsory vaccination policy established in the German Empire was continued. [...]
The Nazis, however, were surprisingly lenient regarding vaccination mandates. The reason: Many among them were adherents of naturopathy, which generally rejected vaccinations.
Some Nazis even claimed that compulsory vaccination was a Jewish invention. In 1934, the "German Anti-Vaccination Doctors' League" alleged that the Reich Vaccination Act had primarily been drafted by "Jewish delegates." An anti-vaccination group from Wilhelmshaven went further, invoking the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in their propaganda, claiming that the "injection of diseases" was meant to subjugate humanity under "Jewish financial rule." Julius Streicher, founder and publisher of the hate-mongering newspaper *Der Stürmer*, even propagated the idea that "vaccinations were introduced by Jews as racial defilement," according to medical historian Thießen.
Source: https://www.mdr.de/geschichte/zeitg...t/impfgegner-impfen-zwangsimpfungen-100.html)
