[Cycles of German yellow fever research in the first half of the 20th century: protagonists and interests].

This article examines for the case of yellow fever research in Germany in the first half of the 20th century how political and military conditions affected the interests of scientific research. As a tropical disease, yellow fever was unknown in Germany and very rare in the German colonies and thus of little scientific or political interest. But this changed once the National Socialists began pursuing their wars of conquest. In preparation for a new colonial empire and a military mission in Africa, yellow fever research became increasingly important. The chief beneficiary of this development was the Robert Koch-Institute in Berlin, where Eugen Haagen worked after his time as a researcher in the Yellow Fever Laboratory in New York. In collaboration with the army and the industry, he used human experiments in his efforts to develop a vaccine for mass production. Ultimately, the vaccine's application was prevented by the German surrender in North Africa.