Oskar Lassar

Oskar Lassar ( born January 11, 1849 in Hamburg, † December 21, 1907 in Berlin) was a German physician, who devoted himself to matters of hygiene and was instrumental in the spread of popular baths in Germany and Austria.

Oskar Lassar came from a Jewish family; his father was a merchant in Hamburg. He studied medicine in Heidelberg, Göttingen, Strasbourg and Berlin and received his doctorate in 1872. After a short time as an assistant in the Department of Dermatology of the Charité in Berlin, he opened a private clinic for dermatology and syphilis in Berlin. As one of the first physicians of his time, he tried to use X-ray therapy. As a dermatologist, he developed a zinc paste for the treatment of eczema, which is still used today.

Lassars was particularly interested in the improvement of hygienic conditions, especially for the lower classes. So he sat down significantly for the establishment of disinfection institutions and the so-called People's shower baths, which he had presented to the public in 1883 on the Hygiene Exhibition in Berlin. In 1899, he founded the German Society for public baths. In 1902 he became a professor at the University of Berlin.