Andrija Štampar
(an excerpt from 'Selected Papers of Andrija Štampar': "Life and Achievements of Andrija Štampar, Fighter for the Promotion of Public Health" by M.D. Grmek)

Taking Over the Chair of Hygiene at Zagreb and World War II

By the decree of March 5, 1939, eight years after his election as full professor of Hygiene and Social Medicine in Zagreb, the Government confirmed the decision of the professorial staff and Štampar finally became a professor at the Zagreb University.

Štampar returned to Zagreb and took over the Chair of Hygiene and Social Medicine. In Croatian cultural circles his book "Zdravlje i drustvo" ('Health and Society'), published in Zagreb in 1939, aroused considerable attention. In that book Štampar spoke again about his impressions on America and China and explained his views, already well known, on the social aspects of health and disease. The value of the book lies in the fact that the author's ideological concepts were very fittingly substantiated by a series of authenticated details collected during his travels over three continents. Immediately after taking over the Chair at the Medical School, he prepared the textbook for students "Higijena i socijalna medicina" ('Hygiene and Social Medicine'), Zagreb 1940, which is in a way the synthesis of his views on medicine.

Elected by the Council of the Medical School in Zagreb, Štampar became the Dean of the School for academic year 1940/41. With the energy so characteristic of him, he set to work on the reform of medical training. In an exceedingly well documented treatise he analyzed the existing methods of training at the former Yugoslav Medical Schools and proposed radical changes. Then he published a study on social and health conditions of Zagreb students.

He was working on the establishment of a model students' home with a university polyclinic, a restaurant, and bathing facilities, when the invasion of former Yugoslavia by the German army (April 1941) put a stop to his endeavours.

On the third day of the occupation of Zagreb, Štampar was arrested by the Ustasa police, only to be released and soon arrested again by the German police (June 14, 1941) and sent to Graz where he was first imprisoned and then interned till the arrival of the Russian army.