The Blechschmidt Collection Documenting
Human Embryonic Development

Between 1951 and 1973 the Göttingen anatomist Erich Blechschmidt created a unique collection of models documenting embryonic development using human embryos.

Erich Blechschmidt (1904-1992) was director at the Institute of Anatomy of Göttingen University from 1942 bis 1973 and – based on the work of the Leipzig anatomist Wilhelm His (1831-1904) as the founder of human embryology – developed a special concept of a lasting three-dimensional documentation of early human development for the scientific community. In co-operation with Dipl.-Ing. Wilhelm Kircheiß Blechschmidt extended the wax reconstruction method of Gustav Born (1851-1900) for the first time in a combination with epoxy resin. As the central part of the collection more than 40 large reconstruction models with colour-coded organs were thus created from 9 individuals from the first 8 weeks of pregnancy. Up to 7 variations displaying different organ systems were reconstructed from the series of sections of one embryo.

The origin of each series of histological sections from human embryonic and fetal tissues collected by Blechschmidt, altogether more than 430 in number, was the subject of a two-year historical study under international guidance in the years 2017 til 2019 (s. http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gs-1/16370). The results suggest that Blechschmidt‘s collection contained several thousand embryos and fetuses of which only a small part were used in research and teaching. Specimens stemmed from spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, terminations of pregnancy, and uterus operations as well as from autopsies in gynecological departments or outpatient clinics, mainly in Lower Saxony. In most cases it was not possible to find documents about the origin of individual specimens in the institute’s archives. Because of the incomplete documentation and the start of Blechschmidt’s collection in 1942 it cannot be excluded that some, in particular fetal, specimens were from forced abortions under Nazi jurisdiction carried out in Göttingen oder Bad Lauterberg, for example. For none of the specimens a consent form signed by the patient involved could be found. Patients had not been informed about the handing over of their embryo or fetus to the anatomy department or about its use for building a model for the collection.

The Centre of Anatomy of the University Medicine Göttingen (UMG) takes the responsibility very seriously which arises from the ethical problems connected with Blechschmidt’s activities and takes this into account when using specimens of the collection for research and teaching. The historical analysis was followed directly by starting to scrutinize each of the several hundred specimens which - according the historical project - had a connection with Blechschmidt’s Collection, but which had not been analysed scientifically since. In the course of this analysis the individual relevance of each specimen for research and teaching will be documented and, if appropriate, followed by de-archiving and an individual burial.

The many ethical and societal problems connected with the collection were subject of a research project in the M.A. study programme 2019/2020 at the Institute for Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology at Göttingen University. Its results were published digitally and in printed form in 2021 ( https://blickwechsel.gbv.de) bzw. https://www.univerlag.uni-goettingen.de/handle/3/isbn-978-3-86395-478-9). An abridged version of the results is on exhibit in the showcase „Blickwechsel“ as part of the collection of models at the Centre of Anatomy thereby also providing a dedicated space commemorating the many patients involuntarily involved.

World-wide, there is only a small number of extensive collections of serially sectioned human embryos. Together with the collections at the Carnegie Institution in Washington D.C. (USA) and at the Congenital Anomaly Research Centre at Kyoto University (Japan), the 'Blechschmidt Collection' stands out due to the high quality of its histological sections and the near-complete coverage of early embryonic phases of development in the first eight weeks of prenatal life.

The exhibition of the reconstruction models is accessible to the public at the Centre of Anatomy, Kreuzbergring 36, 37075 Göttingen, Germany, following personal registration at the Secretariat of the Centre of Anatomy (Tel. +49 551 3967000).