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Oskar Lassar

Oskar Lassar (January 11, 1849 - December 21, 1907) was a German dermatologist who was a native of Hamburg. After earning his medical doctorate in 1872, he was briefly a hospital assistant at the Berlin Charité. Afterwards he started a private hospital for dermatology and syphilis in Berlin. In 1902 he became a professor at the University of Berlin.

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Oskar Lassar is remembered for the creation of public bath houses for low-income individuals in Germany and Austria. These bath houses were constructed in the interest of public hygiene, at a time when poorer people didn't have private baths or showers. In Germany the bath-houses were called Volksbäd, and in Austria, Tröpferlbad. In 1899, Lassar was founder of the German Society for Volksbädern.

Lassar was one of the first physicians in Europe to use the recently discovered X-ray technology for therapeutic purposes. He also developed a zinc paste for treatment of eczema, which is still used today and known as Lassar's paste. He was founder of the dermatology journal Dermatologische Zeitschrift and was its editor from 1893 until his death in 1907.

Selected writings

Volksgesundheit und menschliche Gesellschaft in ihren Wechselbeziehungen (Public Health and Human Society) (1892)
Die gesundheitsschädliche Tragweite der Prostitution (Health Consequences concerning Prostitution) (1892)
Geschichten und Gedichte für kleine Kinder (Stories and Poems for Small Children) (1895)
Das Volksbad (The "people" bath) (1896).