From Smallpox to COVID-19: The German-Language Anti-vaccination Movement

Abstract This article examines the history of the German anti-vaccination movement as a struggle for both social and epistemological dominance, shaped by the complex dynamics between science, science skepticism, and outright science denial. It traces the movement’s origins to the introduction of mandatory vaccination laws in the 1870s up until the COVID-19 pandemic. The author explores how anti-vaccination opinion leaders have long used conspiracy theories and other forms of disinformation to construct a concise argumentation that lends credibility to otherwise irrational arguments. By identifying recurring narrative patterns, the study reveals the persistent structures within anti-vaccination belief systems spanning from the nineteenth century to the present day. This article advances the central claim that radical anti-vaccinationism in German-speaking Europe was not merely adjacent to antisemitism and völkisch ideology but structurally intertwined with them through shared narratives of purity and contamination, conspiratorial worldviews, and opposition to ‘‘Jewish” or ‘‘cosmopolitan” academic medicine. The article focuses on the longue durée and argues that German-speaking countries in particular have such a strong affinity for anti-vaccination positions due to their long tradition of alternative medicine movements.