Surgeon, officer and politician Eugen Bircher’s private library
A new addition to e-rara: the digitized private library of Eugen Bircher, a Swiss surgeon and military author who worked at ETH Zurich for several years.
Aargau native, controversial external page Eugen Bircher (1882–1956) studied medicine in Basel and Heidelberg. In the 1920s, he was one of Switzerland’s most renowned surgeons. He published many articles on goitre, stomach, knee joint and war surgery and is one of the founders of arthroscopy. Between 1926 and 1956, he was the editor of the medical journal Schweizerische Medizinische Wochenschrift.
Eugen Bircher’s military and political work
Besides his medical work, Bircher pursued a military career and lectured at ETH Zurich’s military school between 1926 and 1939. He was the president of the Swiss Officers’ Association from 1931 until 1937 and the editor-in-chief of the military journal Allgemeine Schweizerische Militär-Zeitschrift from 1931 until 1946. Bircher was a leading personality in the Swiss military. In 1920, he co-founded the right-wing Party of Farmers, Traders and Independents in the canton of Aargau; in 1942, he was elected to the National Council. Bircher was often very controversial because of his views and his initiatives.
Private library on the e-rara online platform
Bircher’s external page private library consisted of medical, military and political works. Today, his collection is held by the ETH Library and currently in the process of being digitized. Browse Eugen Bircher’s extensive collection of books virtually on e-rara.
external page e-rara is the platform for digitized prints from Swiss institutions dating from the 15th to 20th century.