Die Abteilung fuer Tumorforschung und Experimentelle Pathologie des Gehirns am Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut fuer Hirnforschung (KWIH) in Berlin-Buch (1937-1945) [Wilhelm Toennis and his Research Department at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research in Berlin-Buch (1937-1945)]

In 1937, Wilhelm Toennis, a German pioneering neurosurgeon, was appointed to an extraordinary chair of neurosurgery at the Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Berlin. Simultaneously he became chairman of a newly established research department at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research in Berlin-Buch. The new department focussed on issues of intracranial pressure and brain tumour pathology and acted in close cooperation with other departments of the institute. At the outbreak of World War II, medical issues shifted towards those of potential interest in war medicine, such as studies dealing with brain injuries and their sequelae. In addition, a special military research unit of the German Luftwaffe under the direction of Toennis was installed, focusing on identical clinical aspects. As a result of both units' achievements, practical guidelines for the treatment of brain injuries were laid out. By the end of WWII the research division in Berlin-Buch was closed down as a special military research unit which had previously been transfered to Bad Ischl in Austria.