After the destructive bombing of the Johanniskirche [de] in Leipzig it became necessary to identify the physical remains of Johann Sebastian Bach before they could be reburied at the Thomaskirche nearby: Rosenthal was able to combine his knowledge of anatomy with his insights (confirmed by further anatomical investigations) into the physical effect of a lifetime of organ playing on a musician's legs to provide the necessary identification.

[2] Rosenthal was born in Friedrichshagen, the youngest of his parents' three recorded children and their only son, in a suburb on the north side of Berlin.

However, after visiting South Africa with his elder sister, Else, who was planning to get married in Bethusalia, Wolfgang was introduced by the family of his future brother-in-law to the business of agriculture.

His dissertation concerned symptoms of late stage congenital syphilis[3] He received his practicing certificate (Approbationsordnung) the next year.

Under the artist name "Wolfgang Zeuner-Rosenthal" he was much in demand for bass-baritone parts in concert and oratorio performances in Leipzig, to the point at which in November 1913 he abandoned his university medical studies to be able to spend more time on his musical career.

[2] During rehearsals for Haydn's Creation Rosenthal got to know the talented soprano Ilse Helling who shared his love of music but keenly supported him in his wish not to abandon medicine entirely.

The divorce theory is robustly refuted in other sources, but the marriage nevertheless ended in tragic circumstances in March 1939 when Leipzig was hit by a serious flu outbreak.

In January 1933 a new government had taken power, and the Adolf Hitler lost little time in moving the country towards one- party dictatorship.

Government policy and the leader's personal philosophy were grounded in a peculiarly murderous brand of anti-semitism which later led to the Holocaust.

In 1943, he was able to prove that a remoter biological ancestor along the Rosenthal line (Prince Martin von Schönborn) had not been Jewish, but the teaching ban was not lifted.

[1] While the zone was still under Soviet Military Administration, in April 1946, the way was opened for a return to one-party dictatorship, through the contentious merger of the no longer illegal German Communist Party (KPD) with the more moderately left wing (SPD).

Rosenthal's SPD membership had in the meantime been signed across to the SED, making him once more a member of the ruling party in a one-party state.

Professionally, however, the Germany ruled under Walter Ulbricht restored important opportunities in the academic world that had been denied him under Hitler.

The assessment concerning Rosenthal's political unreliability seems to have been the result of informant reports received by the Ministry for State Security.

Over the years he developed new operations and treatment methods to optimize through reconstruction both the functionality and the appearance of affected mouth parts.

Close collaboration involving, in addition, plastic surgeons should make possible correspondingly visually satisfactory outcomes.

In the German Democratic Republic, he was awarded, in the same year, the title Verdienter Arzt des Volkes (Honoured Doctor of the People).