Biography of Ryke Geerd Hamer

Ryke Geerd Hamer (born 17 May 1935 in Mettmann; died 2 July 2017 in Sandefjord, Norway) was a German former physician and founder of the so-called Germanic New Medicine. Medical and scientific bodies classify this doctrine as pseudomedicine. The most serious concern was that supporters refused or delayed evidence-based cancer treatment.

Training and medical work

Hamer studied medicine, received a licence to practise in 1963 and worked in clinics and practices. In 1972 he completed specialist training in internal medicine. In this early phase he moved within regular medical structures. Later he moved away from them, developed his own interpretations of disease and increasingly came into conflict with authorities, courts and professional bodies.

Dirk Hamer and the origin of the doctrine

In 1978 Hamer's son Dirk was shot in an incident near Corsica and died on 7 December of that year. Hamer later attributed his own illnesses and those of other people to psychological conflicts and from this developed the so-called New Medicine, later Germanic New Medicine. The theory claimed links between conflicts, the brain, organs and disease courses, but could not be scientifically substantiated.

Loss of licence and criticism

On 8 April 1986 Hamer lost his licence to practise medicine. Specialist bodies criticised his doctrine because it offered no robust scientific evidence and could lead patients away from effective therapies. Hamer's antisemitic conspiracy narratives were also repeatedly documented. The case illustrates the risks of medical claims when they move seriously ill people away from tested treatment.

Public cases and legal proceedings

In the 1990s Hamer became known to a wider public through the case of Olivia Pilhar in Austria. The parents of the child with cancer initially refused conventional medical treatment in favour of Hamer's ideas; treatment followed only after court decisions. Hamer was prosecuted in several countries and imprisoned for periods, including for practising medicine without authorisation and for fraud.

Later years in Norway

Hamer later lived in Spain and Norway. From Sandefjord he continued to spread his doctrine, although medical bodies warned against it. In 2016 he received the Goldenes Brett, a negative award for pseudoscientific or conspiracy-based claims. The award showed that his ideas were still being monitored in the German-speaking world years after the legal disputes.

Farewell

Ryke Geerd Hamer died in Sandefjord on 2 July 2017. He was 82 years old. The movement he founded continues to be critically examined because it can undermine trust in tested medicine and endanger vulnerable patients.