The Health Care Reform in the Soviet Occupation Zone in Germany in 1945-1949: The Social Aspect

This article deals with the policy of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAG) aimed at reforming the German health care system in the Soviet occupation zone (SOZ) in 1945-1949. The research was conducted on the basis of documents from the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF). The Soviet military authorities' efforts to transform the German health care system as a means of implementing social change in the German society in East Germany have not been previously studied in historiography. This publication presents joint activities of the health authorities of the SMAG and East Germany to counter epidemic threats, eliminate social causes of mass diseases and change the social structure of the German society. The study of the health care reform in its dependence on the changes in the general policy of the USSR in Germany constitutes the scientific novelty of this research. The practical implications of this article are determined by the applicability of historical experience in medical and sanitary measures for dealing with crisis phenomena in the modern society. The aim of the research is to analyze the reformation of the German health care system in the context of the SMAG's social policy in the SOZ in Germany in 1945-1949. The use of preventive, local and industrial principles of Soviet medicine enabled the German health care system to minimize the threat of mass diseases and the social basis of their spread in the SOZ in Germany (prostitutes, migrants). Unlike in the Soviet health care system, in the SOZ, treatment and its financing were separated. The SOZ Social Insurance Service compensated for the cost of the medical services used by insured Germans. The network of public inpatient and outpatient care institutions was expanding. Since 1947, the priority was given to the industrial principle of providing medical care for employees in the SOZ in Germany. In enterprises, being given the best medical care depended on an employee's performance. Hired workers provided reliable social support for the authorities in building socialism. The abandonment of the denazification policy helped to solve the personnel problem in the German health care system. The reform also changed the social structure of the German society. The proletarization of medical staff intensified. Private medicine was to a significant extent replaced by public health care. The author concludes that the reformation of the German health care system in 1945-1949 influenced the social transformation of the German society in the SOZ in Germany, and those changes depended on the progress of the reformation itself.

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