by Eberhard Deisenhammer, archivist of the EFNS
& Klaus V. Toyka, archivist of the ENS
In 2013, at the last congress held by the ENS in Barcelona it was decided to establish a history of the ENS from its beginnings. The EFNS had formally established an Archive in 2008 which was continued up until 2014 when the getting together of the ENS and EFNS took place leading to the birth of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN).
The first EAN president, Prof. Günter Deuschl, and the new EAN Board named two senior members to become the EAN archivists, E. Deisenhammer, Austria, for the EFNS and K.V. Toyka, Germany, for the ENS, with the goal of preparing a History Walk through the years of existence of the two European societies. This History Walk should be displayed at the first European Congress of the EAN in Berlin, Germany, becoming accessible to all members through the Website of the EAN.
Prof. Deisenhammer, co-founder and first Secretary General of the EFNS, and Prof. Toyka, co-founder and former president of the ENS, both have collected material from various sources to make up the History Walk. This would not have been possible without the support by several former officers of both societies and by the excellent professional work of the society headquarters, the congress organizer Congrex Switzerland (Sabine Adam, Jennifer Thomsen) and the EFNS and now EAN Head Office in Vienna (Julia Mayer in co-operation with Ms. Barbara Holter, graphic designer).
The History Walk aims at providing facts about the two flourishing European neurology societies and, at the same time, reflecting on the growing collaboration of European neurology departments and laboratories and the established friendship between individual neurologists and neuroscientists throughout Europe. This holds true for the young and the senior members alike, within, and growingly between members of the two societies extending from the Far East of Europe to the West and from North to South. Needless to say, there was also a good bit of competition between the ENS and the EFNS in fulfilling their goals.
Please, share the pride and pleasure with us when looking back at the successful 30 years of European Neurology.
We look foward to welcoming you to this unique illustration of the history and maybe even encourage you sending us your memories from the past and stories for the new EAN archive.
