The German-Iberoamerican Medical Journal (1928-1934). Dissemination of German eugenics debate among Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries.

BORTZ, JAIME ELÍAS; MARTÍNEZ KLEIN, MARÍA DE LA PAZ; LANDINO, MATÍAS; BORTZ, GABRIELA

Mérida

Congreso; VII Meeting of the International Society for the History of Medicine; 2013

International Society for the History of Medicine

The German-Iberoamerican Medical Journal (GIMJ) was a German journal published in Spanish in the interwar period between 1928 and 1938. The publication was aimed to disseminate scientific, medical and healthcare ideas and practices among Spanish-Portuguese-speaking countries (Central America, South America, Spain and Portugal). The journal was the product of the merge of two publications -the Medical Journal of Hamburg and the German Spanish American Medicine-, was written by physicians and aimed at Spanish-Portuguese-speaking health personnel, presenting among its contents scientific papers, editorials and congress abstracts. The survey of GIMJ?s contents shows its concern about issues related to eugenics, with considerations about overpopulation, food distribution, labor division, social classes in capitalist societies and the high reproduction rate of the lower socioeconomic classes. We were able to identify two phases in the journal?s trajectory, the first between 1928 and 1934, and the second between 1934 and 1938, after the rise of Nazism. This work aims to analyze the eugenic ideas promoted by the GIMJ during the first period (1928-1934), focusing on the role that publishers self-attributed as reference concerning health and science innovation. A subsequent work will examine the ideological shift of the journal since the rise of Nazism.