Sadly, there is no sunshine on this cloudy day. Not in a literal sense (it actually pours), but not as a figure of speech either. Some say there is never a good time to say goodbye, but some days are definitely worse than others and certainly when you are saying goodbye as editor of a journal answering to the name Medicine, Conflict and Survival. I do not, of course, know what the situation in Gaza will be when you, dear MCS-subscriber, are reading this, but at the time of writing the Israeli army appears to be closing in on the hospitals in the north of Gaza, which have run out of fuel. Generators have stopped working. And all this ‘only’ comes on top of the ‘usual’, in the media as almost ‘normal’ (if at all) covered medical misery in Ukraine, Yemen, Congo etc. etc.
Although to even call it just a bit of sunshine would already be an overstatement, given my interest in the history of war and medicine, a tiny ray of gold in almost impenetrable darkness it nevertheless is. At the same time as International Humanitarian Law seems to be considered by some not to be worth the paper it is written on, the Lancet issued a report stating that there should be extensive and worldwide interest at medical faculties in the racial hygienic, eugenic derailments in Germany 1933-1945.Footnote1 This would, the Lancet argues, greatly assist in upholding medical ethics in times of grave dilemmas – the idea for setting up the report had its origin in COVID-19 times – and develop a critical eye upon science and political involvement in medical ethics. Of course, one can wonder if a focus on Germany 1933-1945 doesn’t carry the danger that this period will remain to be seen as a medical aberration instead of ‘only’ an extreme in a geographically, timely and politically much broader trend. No doubt one can think of more times during which, and countries where, subjects like these could be researched – even if we leave out the probably as gross derailments of Japanese medicine in China in the same decade. Colonial medicine – British, Dutch, Belgian – springs to mind, which is also in need of much more attention. See for instance a column I recently wrote on Dutch medicine in the Indonesian decolonization war 1946-1949.Footnote2
But nevertheless, having a major journal like The Lancet pleading for more (historical) interest in a topic on war and medicine, knowing that there is at least one positive point to report on the subject given the journal’s name and reach, made saying goodbye after having been an editor of MCS for seven years, just a bit easier.
Although it is a goodbye and not a farewell – I will stay on as a member of the editorial board, will remain to write reviews and, who knows, will restart sending in articles – I will certainly miss my two-weekly zoom-rendezvous with Marion – I, cheerfully: ‘How are things in the UK?’ Marion, much less cheerfully: ‘Oh, well. What shall I say’ – enormously. Working with you, Marion, was an enormous pleasure. Working for you, MSC-readers, was as much an honor as it was a privilege.
Notes
1 The Lancet Commission on medicine, Nazism, and the Holocaust: historical evidence, implications for today, teaching for tomorrow - The Lancet
2 HHH column: Medicine is an instrument of war: Indonesia 1946-1949 as pars pro toto by Leo van Bergen – History Health & Healing (historyhealthhealing.nl)