It is a great pleasure and honor to be asked to participate in the translation of this important and historical volume on thoracic surgery and to provide this foreword. Martin Kirschner of Mannheim/Heidelberg was an early pioneer in thoracic and esophageal surgery. His operation for bypass of the esophagus using the entire stomach remains a standard of the surgical armamentarium to this date. The original Kirschner Textbook of Surgery was a standard in its day. We are fortunate that Profes...