Waldsax, Reinhard, 1907-1995.

German-born Doctor of dentistry. Reinhard Waldsax qualified as a Doctor of Medicine and Dental Surgery at the Bonn University. Due to his refusal to accept the political requirements of the Nazi regime he was forced to give up his post as lecturer in 1933. He set up private practice in Berlin but similar pressures forced him to move to London in 1935. Interned under a General Internment Order in 1940 Waldsax was deported to Australia on the Dunera. In Australia he was held at the Hay Internment Camp for four years, where he provided dental services to the internees. Due to a lack of supplies and equipment particularly in the early years, Waldsax made his own instruments by hand, sometimes from railway nails. In 1943 he was given an early release and returned to London where he set up a successful private dental practice. Although he continued to live in England, Waldsax was actively involved in efforts to reestablish links between German and international dental organisations which had been broken during the war, efforts for which he was later honoured by the German government.