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Dr. Ledermann is interviewed by Dr. Brian Kaplan:
The interview continues...
( Part 1)
PART 2:
BK:
And so
at that
point, having
got your
qualifications,
now
you're a
doctor, what was
your
move now?
EL:
I disappointed
my father.
My friend
got a
job as
a GP.
I said, "I'm
going to study Natural Therapy under a man in Edinburgh who's got
a College of Natural Therapy."
BK:
He was
not a
doctor?
EL:
No. Mr
Thompson. I
had one
Jewish doctor
friend in
Edinburgh who
said: "Ledermann,
you have betrayed your profession. You've got yourself
involved with Mr Thompson."
BK:
But was
this part
of your
plan in
the sense
that you
knew you were going
to do something holistic
?
EL:
Yes
BK:
And what
did you
hear here
that you
hadn't heard
before?
EL:
The patients
were instructed
in the
use of
hydrotherapy, of
exercises, diets
including fasting which
I had never heard before.
BK:
But did
you see
this as
a different
philosophy of
medicine?
EL:
Of course
I could
see they
were not
treating illnesses,
they were
treating whole human
beings.
When
I had
been in
the children's
hospital in
Berlin we
already had
very good results, babies being
treated
with cold
water, they breathed in
fresh air .
We attended to their diets and
they
got much better. That was natural
therapy. It
wasn't called that, but the
children's hospital
in
Berlin hadn't any drugs for
these children but
why
did
they get
better? Because
they were treated with
natural therapy.
So that was quite holistic.
Then
Hitler was very keen on it,
and
his deputy Rudolph Hess, was
a patron of a hospital
where both orthodox and holistic methods were used.
BK:
And how
long did
you stay
with Mr.
Thompson in
Edinburgh?
EL:
About five
or six
months. Then
a doctor
came to
see me
from Glasgow, and
said: "Dr. Ledermann, we've got a homeopathic hospital in
Glasgow and a vacancy
for a house physician. Would you like to apply?" I said, "Yes."I
was appointed house
physician for six months .
BK:
This was
the Glasgow
Homeopathic Hospital?
EL:
Yes, it
practised very
good. homeopathic
medicine
.
BK:
In the
meantime you
were learning
English all
along, your
English was
getting better and better?
EL:
I had
lessons when
I arrived
in Edinburgh.
,
BK:
So where's
your Scottish
accent?
EL:
I had
a Scottish
accent too,
BK: Okay,
so you
entered The
Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital. This
will be of
great interest to the people
reading this? Who was
there? Tell me some of
the names …
EL:
Henderson Patrick
was the
main consultant,
a great
friend of
Sir John
Weir. W. Boyd,Hamish
Boyd’s father , did scientific work on a machine, the Emanometer,
which tested the patient’s suitability for a homeopathic
remedy.The doctors were Scots, and they were
very open-minded,
extremely
friendly. I went to all the outpatients departments,
We had a big outpatient
department, we had a small inpatient department.
And
nobody
in the inpatient section
was under anybody else but a homeopath. If you
had a surgical
operation, the surgeons
cooperated with
the homeopathic physicians.
BK:
And this
homeopathic medicine
was of
a nature
that you
felt comfortable
with. Was it
holistic?
EL:
I could
see that
the similimum
treats a
whole patient …
BK:
So some
time during
this period
you must
have picked
up Hahnemann’s
Organon?
EL:
Yes…
BK:
Had you
heard of
Hahnemann's thinking
when you
were in
Germany?
EL:
Yes, I'd
heard of
Hahnemann.
BK:
And so
you worked
as a
homeopathic physician.
.
EL:
I
was
house physician
at the
Glasgow
Homeopathic
Hospital.
BK:
Okay.
And
then, how
long did
that
last
for?
EL:
For
six
months.
I
left
Berlin
in
'33.
I
re-qualified
in
Edinburgh
in
'34.
In
'35,
I
was
at
the
School
of
Natural
Therapy
,then
at
the
Homeopathic
Hospital
in
Glasgow,
and
at
the
end
of
'35
I
came
to
London to
start
my
own
practice. .
As
a
German
subject
and ‘enemy alien’ I
needed
support to
be able
to
practice in
London. Sir
John
Weir [of
the London
Homeopathic
Hospital]
provided
me with
this support.
BK:
You
needed
the
support
of
an
influential
doctor?
EL:
Yes,
I
was
an
alien
.My
passport
had
a
swastika
on
it!
(when
Marjorie [Dr Ledermann’s
late wife] married me,
she became an enemy alien.
Later she became a naturalised
British
subject although having been born in London).
BK:
So where
did you
start working?
EL:
In Gloucester
Terrace and
I was
a appointed
to the
Children's Homeopathic
Dispensary in Shepherd's Bush for one session
weekly in
1936
. When the Dispensary
closed
in 1956, I
was appointed at the
Royal
London Homeopathic
Hospital
where I rose to the position of
Consultant in
1965.
(Part 3... Conclusion) |
