Why did this journal retract two 1940s papers by Max Planck?

The legacy of German physicist Max Planck, a foundational figure in quantum mechanics and the recipient of the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics, has come under scrutiny due to the unexpected retraction of two of his papers from the 1940s. This puzzling development has left historians and scholars bewildered, as there has never been any question regarding Planck's integrity or the validity of his scientific contributions. The retraction was executed by the journal Naturwissenschaften, now called The Science of Nature, which typically marks retracted articles with a prominent notice while allowing access to the content. However, in this unusual case, the two papers have been completely removed from the journal's website, replaced only by a blank page and a brief statement indicating they were withdrawn due to an “article violation.” Physics historians Yves Gingras from the University of Quebec in Montreal and Mahdi Khelfaoui from the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières were prompted to investigate after discovering Planck's name on a list of Nobel laureates whose works had been retracted. Their inquiry led them to publish their findings as a preprint on the physics arXiv. In a conversation with Science reporter Sam Kean, the journal's editor-in-chief, Suzanne Scarlata of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, revealed she was unaware of the retractions until contacted for comments. Expressing her disbelief, Scarlata remarked, “That’s crazy. I don’t understand why they were flagged. I think it just happened with their algorithm. It’s a mistake they should probably rectify.” Despite the controversy, it has been noted that Springer Nature continues to list the empty PDFs for sale, drawing further attention to the incident.