The article traces the development of the history of medicine as an academic discipline in divided Germany between 1945 and 1959. During this time period the core of the field--the German association for the history of medicine, the scientific journal and, as well, many scientists--shifted from East to West Germany. The fate of the formerly renowned chair of the history of medicine in what was now East Berlin and the difficulties to find a candidate willing to fill in the position indicate the problems in establishing a socialist historiography of medicine. The 1950s was a lost decade for the historiography of medicine in East Germany. In the meantime the historiography of medicine in West Germany, based on better starting conditions, consolidated institutionally.