Hardcore Vient à Paris, 1983–1987

“Not Even the Highest Wall Can Stop AIDS”: Expertise and Viral Politics at the German-German Border

“…At the 1987 conference in Paris, for example, Niels Sönnichsen still paid considerable attention to concerns reported by African delegates, in particular their concerns about the unavailability of affordable antibody test kits. 62 That same year, Sönnichsen, who had made it clear in comments to colleagues at the Ministry of Health that he was entirely convinced by the growing international consensus regarding the origins of HIV, wrote gingerly in his more public-facing works that although most signs pointed to an emergence of the virus in twentieth-century sub-Saharan Africa, scientists were still considering many hypotheses, and it was worth withholding judgment for the time being. After all, he continued, medical personnel at Sönnichsen's own Charité Hospital in Berlin had, around the turn of the century, referred to syphilis as "the French disease" or "the Polish disease."…”

“…Sönnichsen speaks, for example, of going on trips to West Germany and sneaking blood samples in his briefcase so that his friends could let him use their lab equipment, and reports from his attendance at the International AIDS Conferences in 1986 and 1987 to 1988 indicate a declining interest in the differences between socialist and capitalist approaches to science and AIDS. 64 Perhaps most importantly, talks began in 1987 between East and West German scientists about the possibility of cross-border collaboration.…”