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Ryke Geerd Hamer

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Ryke Geerd Hamer (17 May 1935 – 2 July 2017)[1] was a German former physician and the originator of Germanic New Medicine (GNM), also formerly known as German New Medicine and New Medicine, a system of pseudo-medicine that purports to be able to cure cancer.[2] The Swiss Cancer League described Hamer's approach as "dangerous, especially as it lulls the patients into a false sense of security, so that they are deprived of other effective treatments."[2]

Hamer held a licence to practice medicine from 1963 until 1986, when it was revoked for malpractice. His system came to public attention in 1995, when the parents of a child suffering from cancer refused medical treatment (chemical therapy or chemotherapy) in favour of Hamer's methods. Hamer was charged with malpractice and imprisoned in several European countries.

Hamer claimed that his method was a "Germanic" alternative to mainstream clinical medicine, which he claimed is part of a Jewish conspiracy to decimate non-Jews.

He is the father of Dirk Hamer, who died of gunshot wounds allegedly inflicted by Vittorio Emanuele di Savoia.[3] Former model and actress Birgit Hamer is his daughter.

Biography

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Ryke Geerd Hamer was born in Mettmann, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in 1935. He received his high school diploma at age 18 and started medical and theological studies in Tübingen, where he met Sigrid Oldenburg, a medical student who later became his wife. At age 20, Hamer passed the preliminary examination in medicine, and in April 1962 passed his medical state examination in Marburg, Hesse. He was granted a professional license as a doctor of medicine in 1963. After spending several years at the University Clinics of Tübingen and Heidelberg, Hamer completed his specialization in internal medicine in 1972. He also worked in several practices with his wife.

Hamer's license to practice medicine in Germany was revoked in 1986 by a court judgment, which was reconfirmed in 2003. As he continued to practice illegally, Hamer was investigated several times over allegations of malpractice and causing the deaths of patients.[4] By 1997, Hamer owned clinics in Germany, Belgium, Italy, Austria, and the Netherlands.[5] Hamer was arrested and jailed for twelve months in Germany from 1997 to 1998,[5] and served a prison term from September 2004 to February 2006 in Fleury-Mérogis, France, on counts of fraud and unlicensed practice of medicine.

Hamer's habilitation thesis about the GNM at the University of Tübingen in 1986 was rejected after multiple examinations by several members of the medical faculty, who concluded that his work lacked scientific methods and reproducibility and his arguments did not support his theories.[6] Hamer claimed that his system was verifiable and that the University of Trnava in Slovakia had already confirmed some of his theories. In fact, the University of Trnava has no real medical faculty and the documents which allegedly confirmed his view are not available nor registered at the university.[7][8] In 1999, that university also rejected his habilitation thesis.[9]

Hamer lived in voluntary exile in Spain until March 2007, when Spanish medical authorities held him responsible for dozens of preventable deaths.[10] He resided in Norway until his death from a stroke on 2 July 2017, age 82.[11]

Germanic New Medicine

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Not to be confused with Neue Deutsche Heilkunde.

On 8 August 1978, Hamer's son, Dirk, was shot by the son of the last king of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, while asleep on a yacht off Cavallo and died on 7 December of that year.[12] Sometime after Dirk's death, Hamer developed testicular cancer and thought there was a link between the two events, so he began to develop Germanic New Medicine (GNM), which can be summarized in its "five biological laws":[13]

  • 1st law ("Iron Rule"): Severe diseases originate from a shock event which is experienced by the individual as very difficult, highly acute, dramatic, and isolating. The shock’s psychological conflict content determines the location of the appearance of a focus of activity in the brain that can be seen in a CT scan as a set of concentric rings, called Hamer Focus or HH (from German: Hamerscher Herd), which correspond to the location of the disease in the body. The subsequent development of the conflict determines the development of both the brain focus and the disease.
  • 2nd law (Two phased nature of disease): A patient who has not solved their conflict is in the first, active conflict phase, where the sympathetic nervous system predominates and which manifests as a "cold disease" accompanied by cold skin and extremities, stress, weight loss and sleep disorders. If they manage to resolve the conflict, they enter a second, post-resolution healing phase, in which the parasympathetic nervous system predominates, commonly diagnosed as a separate "warm" (rheumatic, infectious, allergic, etc.) disease. This second phase is the one that usually entails more risks, and a complete cure only comes upon its completion. In some circumstances, not solving the conflict but downgrading it to a reasonably livable level may be preferable to facing the second phase.
  • 3rd law (Ontogenetic system of diseases): Hamer proposes that disease progression is primarily controlled by the brain, either by the "old brain" (brainstem and cerebellum) or the "new brain" (cerebrum). The old brain controls more primitive processes, having to do with basic survival, such as breathing, eating, and reproduction, whereas the new brain manages more advanced personal and social issues, such as territorial conflicts, separation conflicts, and self-devaluation and identity conflicts. Hamer's research is tied to the science of embryology because he links the type of disease progression—whether involving tissue augmentation (tumor growth), tissue loss (necrosis or ulceration), or functional impairment—with the embryonic germ layer (endoderm, mesoderm or ectoderm) from which both the organ tissues and the corresponding brain regions originate. Conflicts which have their focus either in the brain stem (which controls body tissues that derive from the endoderm) or the cerebellum (which controls tissues that derive from the mesoderm) show cell multiplication in the conflict active phase, and destruction of the resulting tumors in the healing phase. Cerebrum directed conflicts (affecting the rest of mesoderm-derived tissues and all ectoderm-derived ones) show either cell decrease (necroses, ulcers) or function impairment or interruption in the active phase, and the replenishment of the damaged tissues in the healing phase (which can also be diagnosed as a tumor).
  • 4th law (Ontogenetic system of microbes): Microbes do not cause diseases but are used by the body, coordinated by the brain, to optimize the healing phase, provided that the required microbes are available when needed. Fungi and mycobacteria work on tissues that originated in the endoderm, as well as on some of the tissues originating in the mesoderm. Bacteria work on all mesoderm-derived tissues and viruses on ectoderm-derived ones. Hamer maintains that these microbes, rather than being antagonistic to the body, actually perform a necessary role in healing, and that some of the interventions of conventional medicine are counterproductive, by interfering with these natural processes.
  • 5th law ("Quintessence"): The conflict active phase and the healing phase of diseases, as described above, constitute "special meaningful programs of nature," developed during the evolution of the species, to allow organisms to override everyday functioning in order to deal with particular emergency situations.

Therefore, according to Hamer, no real diseases exist; rather, what established medicine calls a "disease" is actually a "special meaningful program of nature" (sinnvolles biologisches Sonderprogramm) to which bacteria, viruses and fungi belong. Hamer's GNM claims to explain every disease and treatment according to those premises, and to thereby obviate traditional medicine. The cure is always the resolving of the conflict. Some treatments like chemotherapy or pain relieving drugs like morphine are deadly according to Hamer.[14][15] These "laws" are dogmas of GNM, not laws of nature or medicine, and are at odds with scientific understanding of human physiology.[16]

Olivia Pilhar case

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In 1995, Hamer was associated with the case of Olivia Pilhar, a six-year-old Austrian girl who suffered from a Wilms' tumor. Pilhar's parents were members of Fiat Lux, a new religious movement whose leader Uriella referred them to Hamer. He diagnosed the girl as having several "conflicts" rather than cancer. When the parents refused conventional medical therapy for Pilhar, the Austrian government removed their rights of care and control. The parents fled with their daughter to Spain, which was Hamer's place of residence at the time.

After negotiations, including the intervention of the Austrian President Thomas Klestil, the parents were persuaded to return to Austria. By then, Pilhar's health had deteriorated. The tumor had grown very large, weighing four kilograms, filling most of her abdominal cavity and was pressing against her lungs. The lack of treatment had reduced the estimate of survival probability from 90% to 10%.[17] After a court ordered conventional cancer treatment with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, Pilhar recovered completely and was still alive in 2010.[18] Her parents received an eight-month suspended jail sentence in Austria.[19]

Jewish conspiracy theory

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Hamer purported that his method is a "Germanic" alternative to mainstream clinical medicine, which he claimed is part of a Jewish conspiracy to decimate non-Jews.[20] In this, Hamer repeated the antisemitic claims of Nazi physician Gerhard Wagner. More precisely, Hamer asserted that chemotherapy and morphine are used to "mass murder" Western civilization, while falsely alleging that such treatments are not used in Israel.[21] Hamer promoted the idea that most German oncologists are Jewish and that "no Jew is treated with chemotherapy in Germany." According to him, hypodermic needles are used during chemotherapy to implant "chips" containing "chambers of poison" that can be activated by satellite to specifically kill patients.[22] He proposed that the swine flu vaccination campaign of 2009 was also used to mark people with those "chips" and denied the existence of HIV.[23] Hamer also believed that the denial of recognition of his theories and the revocation of his practitioner's licence is due to a Jewish conspiracy.[21]

In 2008, Hamer presented a document where a supposed rabbi, "Esra" Iwan Götz, confirmed the existence of a conspiracy among Jewish oncologists to use the "torture" of chemotherapy on all non-Jewish patients, while Jewish patients were to receive the "correct" treatment of GNM. Götz, a German holocaust denier active in the German Reich revivalism scene, has been repeatedly convicted by German courts[24] for fraud, defamation, misuse of academic titles (the title "Chief Rabbi" is not legally protected in Germany), and the falsification of documents, among others.[25]

Response by medical authorities

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The Swiss Cancer League of the Swiss Society for Oncology, Swiss Society for Medical Oncology, and Swiss Institute for Applied Cancer Research say that no case of a cancer cure by Hamer has been published in the medical literature, nor any studies in specialised journals. Reports in his books "lack the additional data that are essential for medical assessment" and the presentations of his investigations, at medical conferences "are scientifically unconvincing."[2] Additionally, the German Cancer Research Center,[26] the German Cancer Society,[27] the German Medical Association and German Consumer Councils[28] strongly disagree with Hamer.

Proponents of alternative cancer treatments also regard Hamer's theory skeptically and argue for supportive evidence and proven patient cases.[29]

The Hamer foci that Hamer saw in the brain CTs are identified by radiologists as common ring artifacts.[30][31]

The medical establishment in Germany and the European Union warns of the threat posed to patients by Hamer's therapies. If effective treatment is neglected, the applying of Hamer's theories is punishable in some countries as malpractice.[2]

There are ongoing press reports of victims of Hamer's practice throughout Europe.[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]

Publications

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  • Ryke Geerd Hamer (1998). Vermächtnis einer Neuen Medizin. Amici di Dirk. ISBN 978-3-926755-00-1.
  • Ryke Geerd Hamer (2000). Summary of the New Medicine. Amici di Dirk. ISBN 84-930091-9-9.
  • Ryke Geerd Hamer (2005). Einer gegen alle. Amici di Dirk. ISBN 84-96127-15-X.
  • Ryke Geerd Hamer (2004). Krebs und alle sog. Krankheiten. Amici di Dirk. ISBN 84-96127-12-5.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ ""Wunderheiler" Ryke Geerd Hamer ist tot" (in German).
  2. ^ a b c d Swiss Study Group for Complementary and Alternative Methods in Cancer, SCAC (2001). "Hamer's 'New Medicine'" (PDF). Swiss Cancer League. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
  3. ^ "Il principe". netflix. 4 July 2023.
  4. ^ case file number 34 Js 85/86 – 34 Js 178/95 – 34 Js 221/96 Public Prosecution Service Cologne
  5. ^ a b Glass, Nigel (7 June 1997). "German 'quack healer' arrested". The Lancet. 349 (9066): 1679. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)62658-X. S2CID 54371252.
  6. ^ "Ruling of a german court about this matter documented on Pilhars page". 21 June 2004. Archived from the original on 9 February 2006. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  7. ^ Correspondence on Pilhars Page: https://web.archive.org/web/20060216141824/http://www.pilhar.com/Hamer/Korrespo/1999/990114.htm
  8. ^ The university has a faculty specialized only in social work and healthcare/nursing http://www.truni.sk/fakulty
  9. ^ Correspondence on Pilhars page: https://web.archive.org/web/20060216141839/http://www.pilhar.com/Hamer/Korrespo/1999/990208.htm
  10. ^ Tor Bach; Kristin Grønli; Erik Tunstad (May 2003). "Norway – Jewish-conspiracy nuts soar to new heights of lunacy". Searchlight. Retrieved 7 May 2011..
  11. ^ Dennis Kogel (5 July 2017). "Der wohl berühmteste deutsche "Wunderheiler" ist tot" (in German). Vice. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  12. ^ "A Short Biography". Retrieved 7 May 2011.
  13. ^ "GNM website".
  14. ^ "Dr.med.Mag.theol. Ryke Geerd Hamer – Germanische Neue Medizin – Dr. Hamer: DAS SPIEL IST AUS!". Dr-rykegeerdhamer.com. 11 February 2010. Archived from the original on 15 August 2011. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  15. ^ "Dr.med.Mag.theol. Ryke Geerd Hamer – Germanische Neue Medizin – Dr. Hamer an die Staatsanwaltschaft München". Dr-rykegeerdhamer.com. 7 February 2010. Archived from the original on 15 August 2011. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  16. ^ Another cancer tragedy in the making, David Gorski, Science Based Medicine
  17. ^ "Parents on trial for cancer treatment refusal". The Independent. London. 10 October 1996.
  18. ^ Windmann, Antje (17 February 2010). "So schön ist Krebs-Kind Olivia heute" [So beautiful is Cancer Child Olivia today] (in German). Bild. Archived from the original on 16 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  19. ^ "Opfer und Medienstar: Der Fall Olivia Pilhar" [Victims and the Media Star: The case of Olivia Pilhar] (in German). Die Presse. 16 January 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  20. ^ Alma Fatmi, 'Die ideologischen Hintergründe der Germanischen Neuen Medizin', in: Udo Schuster (ed.), Rassismus im neuen Gewand. Herausforderungen im Kommunikationszeitalter 4.0, München 2017, p. 81–112.
  21. ^ a b Germanisch gegen Krebs, TAZ 30 January 2006
  22. ^ Report München: Todesfalle Germanische Neue Medizin. ARD, 18. January 2010
  23. ^ Ryke Geerd Hamer: "HIV ist eine ganz normale Allergie" Der Standard, 14. January 2012
  24. ^ He received a suspended eight-month sentence for Volksverhetzung from an Anklam court in 2009. Acht Monate auf Bewährung für Leugnen des Holocaust (mirrored Nordkurier article of 27 January 2009)
  25. ^ Skandal um Holocaust-Leugnung in Anklam, indimedia.org, 19 January 2007.
  26. ^ Krebsinformationsdienst des Deutschen Krebsforschungszentrums Heidelberg über die "Therapie nach Hamer" (PDF, Stand 2006 Archived 9 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine)
  27. ^ Software cy:con, www.cy-con.de. "Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft e. V. – Statement about the "Germanischen Neuen Medizin" (GNM)". Krebsgesellschaft.de. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  28. ^ "News in the Hamburger Morgenpost" (in German). Archiv.mopo.de. 8 February 2006. Archived from the original on 30 January 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  29. ^ Ventegodt S, Andersen NJ, Merrick J (January 2005). "Rationality and irrationality in Ryke Geerd Hamer's system for holistic treatment of metastatic cancer". ScientificWorldJournal. 5: 93–102. doi:10.1100/tsw.2005.16. PMC 5936562. PMID 15702221.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  30. ^ Statement of the German Radiologist Association/Deutschen Röntgengesellschaft – CT-Untersuchungen des Gehirns zur Detektion "Hamer'scher Herde" (Deutsche Röntgengesellschaft) Archived 5 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  31. ^ "Statement by Prof. Maximilian Reiser, president of German radiologist association "Deutsche Röntgengesellschaft" January 22, 2007 (German)". Promed-ev.de. 22 January 2007. Archived from the original on 6 March 2007. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  32. ^ Kampf gegen die Stärksten, Der Spiegel 32/1995, S. 154–162.
  33. ^ "Report: Germanische Medizin". Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
  34. ^ Völkerling, Jörg (29 March 2010). "Krebstod einer Zwölfjährigen: Für Vertrauen in Wunderheiler droht Gefängnis – Nachrichten Panorama – WELT ONLINE". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  35. ^ "DH.be – Morte à cause d'un marabout, sa fille témoigne!". Dhnet.be. 2 December 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  36. ^ "Le livre choc de Nathalie de Reuck – Seulomonde". Seulomonde.canalblog.com. 15 January 2010. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  37. ^ "Nathalie de Reuck : " Des charlatans de la santé ont tué ma mère " – societe". Elle.fr. 13 January 2010. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  38. ^ "46-åring døde av kreft etter behandlingsnekt | TV 2 Nyhetene". Tv2nyhetene.no. 22 April 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  39. ^ "Beitrag Detail – Monika von Gunten 40 Tod der Zwillingsschwester". gesundheitstipp.ch. 16 November 2011. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  40. ^ "Krebstod einer Zwölfjährigen: "Wunderheiler" versprach Hilfe – und Susanne starb doch – Nachrichten Bayern – Augsburger Allgemeine" (in German). Augsburger-allgemeine.de. Archived from the original on 11 January 2011. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  41. ^ Friedrichsen, Gisela (7 September 1997). "Der Spiegel 37/1997 – Ein gefährlicher Erlöser". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  42. ^ "Padova, famiglia rifiuta la chemio, ragazza muore di leucemia". repubblica.it. 31 August 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  43. ^ Cronache, Redazione (9 March 2016). "Rifiuta cure per metodo Hamer, un'altra donna morta a Rimini". corriere.it. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
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