Blood Group Research in Germany and the Soviet Union

Germany and the Soviet Union stand out as the two countries where more research was done than anywhere else on blood group distribution between the world wars. They were also the countries that underwent the most dramatic political and social upheavals in the 1920s and 1930s. The pattern of research saw a rapid initial interest in the blood groups during the 1920s followed by a precipitous decline in this research during the early 1930s in both countries. Much of the change was the result of dramatically different political developments outside the scientific arena in each country, but there were also certain internal scientific reasons for the sharp rise and decline of blood group research. Despite several obvious differences, the broad pattern of research in Germany and the Soviet Union was generally similar.