Paul Kraske 1851–1930

Abstract

Paul Kraske was born June 2, 1851, in Berg, near Muskau. He obtained his surgical training in Halle under the tutelage of Richard von Volkmann, working as his assistant from 1876 through 1883. In 1878 he presented his doctoral dissertation on an “Experimental Investigation Concerning Regeneration of Striated Muscle.” For several years Kraske demonstrated a particular interest in colorectal cancer, producing a number of publications on this subject. This was the foundation of his fame, so that he was appointed director of the Surgical Clinic in Freiborg at the age of 32 years. In 1885 he presented a lecture at the Fourteenth Congress of the German Society of Surgery on the subject of the transsacral approach to the removal of rectal cancer. His experience was based on cadaver dissection and treatment of two patients. It is for this report that Kraske achieved eponymous immortality.

Kraske remained faithful to the University of Freiborg until his death. He led the clinic for 36 years and retired in 1919 at the age of 68.

Kraske is remembered as a man with a “soft and feeling heart,” yet with a clear mind. He was always very critical with respect to the proposition of various scientific ideas. He was not one who immediately accepted change. He was felt to be rather shy and preferred quiet work in the operating room and at the patient's bedside. He was also considered a great patriot, having volunteered as a soldier in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870–1871, and as a medical officer in the beginning of the first world war (1914). His particular interest in later years was in the value of early exploratory laparotomy for abdominal wounds.

Kraske died June 15, 1930, a the age of 80 years. He is considered one of the great early masters responsible for the development of surgery.