A Crazy Project

What has possessed me - a balding, big-bellied German Thalidomide man - to want to become a nude photographic model? I look like a pink, tubby, bespectacled penguin, and because of my little arms I can’t even bring myself to take my shirt off on the beach. And yet I’ve persuaded myself and eleven other first-time models, who share my disability, to strip naked and pose for me. read more...

The Wirtz Family’s Business Concerns

The company Chemie Grünenthal GmbH, founded in 1946 in Stolberg in the Rheinland, is now called Grünenthal GmbH and is based in Aachen. Its sole partner is Grünenthal Pharma GmbH & Co. KG whose shares are owned by the Wirtz family.. read more...

The Thalidomide Scandal – Key Points

From October 1st 1957 until November 27th 1961, Chemie Grünenthal (as the company was then called) produced and marketed the active agent Thalidomide under the brand name Contergan. The drug was especially effective against morning sickness, and was also released as a tested and non-addictive sedative and sleeping pill for pregnant women. read more...