Dirk Hamer
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Ryke Geerd Hamer (17 May 1935 – 2 July 2017) was a German ex-
physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
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 Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
. 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." Hamer held a licence to practice medicine from 1963 until 1986, when it was revoked for
malpractice In the law of torts, malpractice, also known as professional negligence, is an "instance of negligence or incompetence on the part of a professional".Malpractice definition, Professionals who may become the subject of malpractice actions inc ...
. 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 Belief in an international Jewish conspiracy or world Jewish conspiracy has been described as "the most widespread and durable conspiracy theory of the twentieth century" and "one of the most widespread and long-running conspiracy theories". Alt ...
to decimate non-Jews.


Biography

Ryke Geerd Hamer was born in
Mettmann Mettmann () is a town in the northern part of the Bergisches Land, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Mettmann, Germany's most densely populated rural district. The town lies east of Düsseldorf ...
,
North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, in 1935. He received his high school diploma at age 18 and started medical and theological studies in
Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...
, 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 Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...
,
Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...
. 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 Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
, Hamer completed his specialization in internal medicine in 1972. He also worked in several practices with his wife and
patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...
ed several inventions. Hamer's license to practice medicine was revoked in 1986 by a court judgment, which was reconfirmed in 2003. As he continued to practice, Hamer was investigated several times over allegations of
malpractice In the law of torts, malpractice, also known as professional negligence, is an "instance of negligence or incompetence on the part of a professional".Malpractice definition, Professionals who may become the subject of malpractice actions inc ...
and causing the deaths of patients. He was jailed for twelve months in Germany from 1997 to 1998, and served a prison term from September 2004 to February 2006 in
Fleury-Mérogis Fleury-Mérogis () is a commune in the Essonne department in northern France, in the southern suburbs of Paris. The commune has the Fleury-Mérogis Prison, France's and Europe's largest prison. Population Inhabitants of Fleury-Mérogis are know ...
, France, on counts of fraud and unlicensed practice of medicine. Hamer's habilitation thesis about the GNM at the University of Tübingen was rejected after multiple examinations by several members of the medical faculty, who concluded that his work lacked scientific methods and reproductibility and his arguments did not support his theories. Hamer claimed that his system was verifiable and that the
University of Trnava The University of Trnava (in Trnava) ( sk, Trnavská univerzita v Trnave) is one of the oldest universities in Slovakia. It is based in Trnava, in the west of Slovakia. Historical university The original Jesuit university was founded in 1635 by ...
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 and registered at the university. That university also rejected his habilitation thesis. Hamer lived in voluntary exile in Spain until March 2007, when Spanish medical authorities held him responsible for dozens of preventable deaths.. New URL:

retrieved 15 July 2017.
By 1997, Hamer owned clinics in Germany, Belgium, Italy, Austria, and the Netherlands, and resided in Norway until his death from a stroke on 2 July 2017, age 82.


Germanic New Medicine

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. 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": * 1st law ("Iron Rule"): Severe diseases originate from a
shock Shock may refer to: Common uses Collective noun *Shock, a historic commercial term for a group of 60, see English numerals#Special names * Stook, or shock of grain, stacked sheaves Healthcare * Shock (circulatory), circulatory medical emergen ...
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 foci", 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 Stress may refer to: Science and medicine * Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition * Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...
, weight loss and
sleep disorder A sleep disorder, or somnipathy, is a medical disorder of an individual's sleep patterns. Some sleep disorders are severe enough to interfere with normal physical, mental, social and emotional functioning. Polysomnography and actigraphy are tests ...
s. 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 Rheumatology (Greek ''ῥεῦμα'', ''rheûma'', flowing current) is a branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis and management of disorders whose common feature is inflammation in the bones, muscles, joints, and internal organs. Rheumatolog ...
,
infectious An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dis ...
,
allergic Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic der ...
, 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 cerebrum, telencephalon or endbrain is the largest part of the brain containing the cerebral cortex (of the two cerebral hemispheres), as well as several subcortical structures, including the hippocampus, basal ganglia, and olfactory bulb ...
). 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 A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...
): 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 Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
of the species, to allow
organism In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and ...
s 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 A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...
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 Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...
or pain relieving drugs like
morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies (''Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. T ...
are deadly according to Hamer. These "laws" are dogmas of GNM, not laws of nature or medicine, and are at odds with scientific understanding of human physiology.


Olivia Pilhar case

In 1995, Hamer was associated with the case of Olivia Pilhar, a six-year-old Austrian girl who suffered from a
Wilms' tumor Wilms' tumor or Wilms tumor, also known as nephroblastoma, is a cancer of the kidneys that typically occurs in children, rarely in adults.; and occurs most commonly as a renal tumor in child patients. It is named after Max Wilms, the German surg ...
. Pilhar's parents were members of
Fiat Lux Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
, a
new religious movement A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...
whose leader
Uriella Fiat Lux (Latin for "let there be light") is a neo-revelationist UFO religion whose members are primarily located in the Black Forest of Germany. History The 'religious order' of Fiat Lux was founded in 1980 by Swiss-born Erika Hedwig Bertschinge ...
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 Thomas Klestil (; 4 November 1932 – 6 July 2004) was an Austrian diplomat and politician who served as President of Austria from 1992 to his death in 2004. He was elected in 1992 and re-elected into office in 1998. Biography until 1992 Bor ...
, 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%. After a court ordered conventional cancer treatment with surgery,
chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...
and
radiation therapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radi ...
, Pilhar recovered completely and was still alive in 2010. Her parents received an eight-month suspended jail sentence in Austria.


Jewish conspiracy theory

Hamer purported that his method is a "Germanic" alternative to mainstream clinical medicine, which he claimed is part of a
Jewish conspiracy Belief in an international Jewish conspiracy or world Jewish conspiracy has been described as "the most widespread and durable conspiracy theory of the twentieth century" and "one of the most widespread and long-running conspiracy theories". Alt ...
to decimate non-Jews. In this, Hamer repeated the antisemitic claims of
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
physician Gerhard Wagner. More precisely, Hamer asserted that chemotherapy and morphine are used to "mass murder" Western civilisation, while such treatment is not used in
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. Hamer promoted the idea that most German
oncologists Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...
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. 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. 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.Germanisch gegen Krebs
TAZ 30 January 2006
In 2008, Hamer presented a document where one " Chief 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 Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: * ...
active in the German Reich revivalism scene, has been repeatedly convicted by German courts for fraud, defamation, misuse of academic titles (the title "Chief Rabbi" is not legally protected in Germany), and the falsification of documents, among others.


Response by medical authorities

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." Additionally, the
German Cancer Research Center The German Cancer Research Center (known as the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum or simply DKFZ in German) is a national cancer research center based in Heidelberg, Germany. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres ...
,Krebsinformationsdienst des Deutschen Krebsforschungszentrums Heidelberg über die "Therapie nach Hamer"
PDF, Stand 2006
)
the German Cancer Society, the
German Medical Association The German Medical Association (GMA) (german: Bundesärztekammer, BÄK), founded in 1947 and based in Berlin, is the co-ordinating body of physicians’ self-regulation in Germany. It co-ordinates the activities of the 17 State Chambers of Physician ...
and German Consumer Councils strongly disagree with Hamer. Proponents of alternative cancer treatments also regard Hamer's theory skeptically and argue for supportive evidence and proven patient cases. The Hamer foci that Hamer saw in the brain CTs are identified by radiologists as common ring artifacts. The medical establishment in Germany and the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
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. There are ongoing press reports of victims of Hamer's practice throughout Europe.''Kampf gegen die Stärksten'', Der Spiegel 32/1995, S. 154–162.


Publications

* * * *


See also

* List of unproven and disproven cancer treatments


References


External links


Hamer's official web page

Ilsedora Laker web page

Karoline Markolin web page

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamer, Ryke Geerd 1935 births 2017 deaths 20th-century German physicians Alternative cancer treatment advocates German conspiracy theorists German anti-vaccination activists Medical malpractice People from Mettmann People from the Rhine Province