by Josh Forman, Head of Science, Education & Outreach
On Holocaust Memorial Day, we remember the six million Jewish men, women, and children murdered during the Holocaust. We also reflect on the countless lives, talents, and futures that were destroyed – including those of scientists whose work transformed medicine and whose absence left gaps that can never truly be filled.
Among them was Professor Ludwig Pick, a Jewish physician and pathologist whose name endures through Niemann–Pick disease, a rare inherited condition that Jnetics screens for today.
Ludwig Pick was born on 31st August 1868 in Landsberg an der Warthe (then Germany, now Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland). We don’t know that much about his personal life, other than to say that he was Jewish. He studied medicine in Berlin and went on to build a distinguished career at the Charité Hospital, one of Europe’s most respected medical institutions, in Berlin. There, he became known not only for his scientific contributions, but also for his integrity, intellectual rigor, and dedication to patient care.
Like many Jewish physicians of his generation, Pick was deeply embedded in German academic and civic life. Medicine was not simply his profession, but his identity – a lifelong commitment to understanding disease and improving the lives of patients. He remained devoted to his work and students even as conditions for Jewish professionals in Germany became increasingly hostile.
At a time when genetics was not yet recognised as a distinct medical discipline, Pick’s work bridged clinical observation, pathology, and heredity. His research focused on understanding disease at the cellular level, laying early foundations for what we now recognise as genetic and metabolic medicine. As with many Jewish academics of the time, Pick was able to move outside the existing norms and restraints of the age and make truly unique developments.
In the early 20th century, Pick described patients with a severe inherited disorder characterised by abnormal lipid accumulation in cells. Building on earlier work by Albert Niemann, Pick helped define the condition that would later be known as Niemann–Pick disease. His careful documentation and pathological insight were critical to recognising the condition as a distinct, inherited disease.
Today, Niemann–Pick disease is understood to be caused by specific genetic variants in the SMPD1 (Type A, the variant prevalent in the Ashkenazi Jewish community), NPC1 and NPC2 genes. At Jnetics, screening for Niemann–Pick disease forms an important part of our work to reduce the impact of serious inherited conditions within the Jewish community. Every screening test carried out today reflects a continuum of knowledge that traces back to pioneers like Ludwig Pick.
Beyond his published research, Pick’s influence was felt most powerfully through his role as a teacher and mentor. As a senior physician at the Charité, he trained generations of young doctors and pathologists, instilling in them the importance of meticulous observation, intellectual honesty, and compassion for patients.
His laboratory was known for its rigorous standards and collaborative atmosphere, and many of his students went on to become leaders in medicine themselves. In this way, Pick’s legacy extended far beyond his own discoveries, it lived on through the people he taught and inspired.
The Nazi persecution of Jewish academics dismantled these networks of mentorship and learning. When senior scientists like Pick were dismissed and deported, entire scientific ecosystems were destroyed. Decades of experience vanished, and the transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next was violently interrupted.
Despite his international reputation, Pick was not spared under Nazi rule. As a Jewish academic, he was stripped of his position and dignity. In 1943, at the age of 75, he was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where he died in 1944.
His death was a devastating loss to science and demonstrative of the lasting impact on the scientific world, whereby many of the most experienced, guiding voices were lost. It is particularly poignant that Pick’s life was cut short just as genetics and metabolic medicine were beginning to flourish. With his deep understanding of hereditary disease, one cannot help but wonder what further insights he might have contributed had he been allowed to continue his work in safety.
Holocaust Memorial Day asks us not only to remember how people died, but also how they lived – what they contributed, and what the world lost when prejudice and hatred were allowed to prevail. By continuing to screen, educate, and support families today, Jnetics honours the legacy of scientists like Ludwig Pick, whose work still shapes modern genetic medicine. Remembering his life reminds us why science, compassion, and vigilance against intolerance matter: now and always.
