Opening Address for Session V: Professor O. Braun-Falco student scholars held on Friday, 7th September 2018, in Gdansk, Poland

After having passed away in April this year, the current session V at the Annual Polish Dermatologic Society Meeting in Gdansk is the first official event in memory of my father, Prof. Dr. Otto Braun-Falco. It is my great privilege to express my deepest gratitude to the organizers, in particular Prof. Nowicki, for their immediate reaction, idea, concept and kindness to prepare this delightful session in recognition of my father.
I sincerely apologize for being unable to participate in person at this meeting due to another obligation long planned before. Otherwise, it would have been a great pleasure for me to provide you with some details of my father’s life, his mentality and his thoughts. Nevertheless, I am extremely confident that Prof. Enno Christopher, his first alumnus and lifelong friend, will do much better than I could in presenting my fathers’ vision of being a medical doctor, a scientist, an academic professor as well as a director of a university hospital in Germany in the post-war era with the self-imposed responsibility to seek, in a sensitive and guarded manner, to rebuild international bridges that had been destroyed before.
For him, the bridges to Poland always ranked very highly, which might be explained by two factors:
– first, “the past” – his personal experiences during the second world war and his feelings about the terrible and unforgettable war crimes committed by the Nazi regime against the Polish nation, in particular against the Jewish population;
– and second, “the future”, which began in the late 1950s by meeting for the first time a special colleague who thereafter became one of the close and lifelong friends of my father – Stefania Jablonska. Today, it would have been her 98th birthday.
Both were aware of the ideas of the famous Alfred Marchionini in promoting friendship and cooperation among scientists of different nationalities. Both had the privilege of proceeding with their career almost in parallel, both respected each other highly, they met each other several times per year during national and international congresses around the world, both were elected members of the International Committee of Dermatology and both had the joy of a long healthy life. During their half a century of friendship, the Polish-German cooperation was strongly intensified, and one out of many achievements was and still is the Otto Braun-Falco Stipend. As you will hear now in more detail, the Otto Braun-Falco Stipend was implemented in the year 1994 with Prof. Roman Nowicki having been the first Polish colleague who received it, as did all of the Polish colleagues who will be lecturing now.
I now wish all of you an interesting and stimulating meeting, I thank each of the speakers for your active participation, and I would also like to thank the audience for their kind interest.
As the son of Otto Braun-Falco I am delighted that the Polish Dermatological Colleagues keep my father in memory in such a pleasant and honorable way.

Thank you very much!
Markus Braun-Falco