About clogged veins and miserable abdominal pain
Lecture on 26 April, 6 pm, at SMAC - event to mark the town's 875th anniversary
Next Thursday, 26 April at 6 p.m., historian Prof. Dr Elke Schlenkrich will be speaking on the topic "On clogged veins and miserable abdominal pain". The lecture on the social and medical history of the early modern period - plague and epidemics in Chemnitz will take place at the State Museum of Archaeology Chemnitz, Stefan-Heym-Platz 1. Admission is free.
For the people of Chemnitz, who lived in the pre-modern era in which there was no health or social insurance and no antibiotics, illness or being affected by epidemics, especially the plague, posed incalculable risks to life. Apart from the fact that illness and death were often very close to each other, (chronic) illnesses and (work) accidents and the associated inability to work led to those affected falling into a spiral of poverty.
The lecture will examine the question of how their everyday life and living situation was organised, primarily from the perspective of those affected. Last but not least, it will also look at how, in the 17th century, a plague barber from Chemnitz almost succeeded in deciphering how the plague pathogen was transmitted to humans.
The speaker, whose research focuses on the social history of poverty, disease and epidemics, teaches as an adjunct professor at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder and is a member of the Historical Commission of the Saxon Academy of Sciences.
Chemnitz is celebrating its 875th anniversary this year. A joint project by the Chemnitz History Society, the Chemnitz Saxon Industrial Museum, the Schloßberg Museum, the Chemnitz State Museum of Archaeology and the Chemnitz City Archive entitled "875 years of history in twelve months" is honouring the city's history.
The programme of events can be found at www.chemnitz.de or at www.875-jahre-chemnitz.de