As a result of the autopsy reports of the Pathological Institute of M uhlhausen in a twenty-year-period from 1960 to 1979 there were 4.8 per cent (n = 219) malformations of the digestive tract among the 4,561 autopsies of stillborn children and live-born ones up to their 16th year of age. Lip, jaw and plate clefts, defects of diaphragm as well as oesophagus atresia and stenosis predominate among the various malformations. The malformations were classified and discussed according to nature, combinations, and sex differences as well as with respect to importance for mortality, territorial and time distribution.