Axel Höjer

In addition to his work and social commitment, in the early 1920s Höjer researched vitamin C and its role in connective tissue cell maturation.

He submitted his thesis in Stockholm in 1924 for PhD degree as Studies in scurvy, and then became the Associate Professor of Hygiene in the Physiological Institute at Lund University.

In 1930, he was appointed as the city physician (stadsläkare) of Malmö and subsequently, in 1935, became Director General of the National Swedish Board of Health, a post he left in 1952.

Höjer's combination of pacifism, socialism, anti-clericalism, anti-Nazism and temperance led to political persecution in Sydsvenska Dagbladet and Aftonbladet, Swedish newspapers.

When a Jewish ophthalmologist had to leave his home after the German occupation of Danzig and tried to find work in Sweden, the medical professionals in the country sued to stop it, citing various reasons.

When the Medical Board in 1939 planned to invite 12 Jewish specialty physicians to Sweden, the doctors' associations protested, suggesting it would lead to unemployment.

The royal family intervened, and Höjer was called to the ruler, Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf, with the proposal that Sweden should accept only a small number of Jewish doctors who were fleeing Hitler's persecution.

I answered respectfully but firmly – with the Court Marshal listening in the background – that I obviously did not want to increase the government's difficulties, but I found that the request is primarily aimed to appease the anti-Semitic circles.