In 1902, the Berlin Jewish urologist James Israel was nominated for the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. Taking scholar, social, and political aspects into consideration, this biographical essay traces how James Israel gained a sound scientific reputation especially in kidney surgery within Imperial Germany and its antisemitic attitude and how he promoted urology to become a specialty in its own right.
Keywords: Culture of remembrance; History of medicine; History of urology; James Israel; Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.