Bruno Mendel

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Bruno Mendel (born November 3, 1897 in Essen an der Ruhr ; died August 23, 1959 in Bussum , North Holland Province , Netherlands ) was a German-Canadian physician , biochemist and pharmacist .

family

He was the firstborn child and son of the scientific researching and publishing general practitioner and medical adviser Friedrich "Felix" Mendel (born March 2, 1862 in Essen an der Ruhr; died December 19, 1925 there) and his wife Margaretha Elsa Goldstec (born on March 30, 1862) November 1875 in Dambritsch , Militsch district , Silesia province ). He had a younger sister, Hanna (born on May 18, 1900 in Essen; died on September 24, 1972 in London ).

His father was chairman of the Jewish community in Essen, represented it in the regional Jewish association and was committed to the welfare system of the city of Essen.

Wedding photo from April 7, 1921: on the left the wedding couple Hertha and Bruno Mendel, on the right the bride's parents Antonie "Toni" and Albert Mendel
Bruno Mendel's wife Hertha Mendel, 1943

Bruno Mendel's marriage to his first cousin Hertha Mendel on April 7, 1921 in Berlin resulted in three children, Gerald "Gerry" Albert (born May 31, 1922 in Berlin; died January 5, 2014 in Ottawa , Ontario , Canada ), Ruth and Anita.

The parents of Bruno Mendel's wife Hertha were the wealthy businessman and co-owner of a clothing store Albert Mendel (born November 21, 1866 in Essen; died October 10, 1922 in Berlin) and his wife Antonie "Toni", née Meyer († 1956 in Oakville , Ontario , Canada ).

Albert Mendel had together with its business partners and Karl Josef whalebone children confection specialized later on women's clothing. Your clothing store that Confektionsgesellschaft Fischbein & Mendel , whose by architect Hans Bernoulli , Alfred Messel and Louis Rinkel planned and (1855-1929) 1909-built building in the style of the German Work Federation has received with bronze works by Alex Müller and historical monument stands, was in the Lindenstraße 44-47 (now Axel-Springer-Straße 44 ) in Berlin-Kreuzberg directly next to the city liberal synagogue Lindenstraße . Only a few years after completion of the clothing store, the clients had Bernoulli build another commercial building at Lindenstrasse 51-53 , which was destroyed by Allied air raids on Berlin during the Second World War .

Between 1912 and 1914, Albert Mendel and "Toni" Mendel commissioned the architect Walter Gropius to gradually furnish their city apartment on Berlin's Lützowplatz .

The villa in Berlin-Nicolassee (common spelling until 1930) on the property at Friedrich-Karl-Straße 18 (renamed from 1933: Am Sandwerder 37 and Am Sandwerder 39 ) was acquired by him in 1920/21 through the now -active Bauhaus Gropius completely rebuild and modernize, for example an impressive expressionist staircase hall was created. Albert Mendel died unexpectedly shortly after completion. His widow “Toni” Mendel commissioned Gropius to design the unconventional grave of Albert Mendel, which is located in the Jewish cemetery in Berlin-Weißensee . Their design cites details of the interior design of Villa Mendel. The work pieces for the grave were made in Weimar with the assistance of the head of the sculptor's workshop of the State Bauhaus, Josef Hartwig , brought to Berlin by train and erected on site in 1923. Rediscovered by Hartmut Probst in the early 1980s , the tomb was restored for the first time in the early 1990s as part of a charity campaign by Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker and Daniel Barenboim .

In particular, "Toni" Mendel, Bruno Mendel's aunt and mother-in-law, was very close friends with the physicist Albert Einstein , who she often lived in her villa at Friedrich-Karl-Strasse 18 from around the early 1920s (from 1933: Am Sandwerder 37 ) visited Nikolassee in Berlin, as did the physicist Leopold Infeld .

The married couple Albert and "Toni" Mendel met Elsa and Albert Einstein through the pacifist New Fatherland League , to which they belonged. From 1929 onwards, Albert Einstein had "Toni" Mendel picked up by her chauffeur in Caputh near Potsdam for joint concert or theater visits; she also regularly went sailing with him on the Wannsee . Elsa Einstein was sometimes skeptical about her husband's pleasures with “Toni” Mendel.

The Mendel family was musically interested and gifted, for example the couple Bruno and Hertha Mendel performed sonatas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as house music . The Villa Mendel, filled with countless books, works of art and musical instruments, was therefore a social meeting place for artists and scientists. Bruno Mendel's laboratory, which Albert Einstein often visited, was also located on the property.

In 1928/29 Hertha and Bruno Mendel had the architect Heinrich Schweitzer build their own villa in the New Objectivity style on the property of "Toni" Mendel and after it was completed they moved with their three children from the old Mendel villa to the new one below Address Friedrich-Karl-Straße 18 (from 1933: old Villa Mendel: Am Sandwerder 37 , new Villa Mendel: Am Sandwerder 39 ). Both are now under monument protection.

In the course of the decree on the redesign of the Reich capital Berlin of November 5, 1937, “Toni” Mendel's property was to be transferred to the planned International Forest Institute ; It is possible that the villas on the affected properties at Am Sandwerder 33 to 41 (only odd house numbers) would have been torn down for new Nazi buildings had the further course of the war not destroyed these plans by the General Building Inspector for the Reich capital (GBI), Albert Speer .

The Mendels introduced Einstein to the philosopher Rabindranath Tagore , whom they knew personally . Bruno Mendel then organized two discussion events with the two great minds in Caputh. B. July 14, 1930 and August of the same year. On September 24, 1931, “Toni” Mendel signed in Einstein's guest book in Caputh: “Today I have no hand, whether I will be Toni Mendel”.

Einstein corresponded after his emigration to the United States continue with the Mendel than this after the power transfer to the Nazis had left Germany also. It can be assumed that Einstein and the Mendels had jointly agreed on an early emigration, with a clairvoyant foreboding of what Hitler could subsequently trigger. “Toni” Mendel was known, among others, with the violinist Eugene Kash .

Career

After graduating from high school in 1914, Bruno Mendel initially worked for the German Red Cross as a paramedic. After the outbreak of World War I , he volunteered and was drafted into the intelligence service. In 1917 he was seriously wounded. The convalescence gave the 27-year-olds the opportunity to start in the winter semester 1917/18 with his studies. He studied medicine at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn , at the University of Frankfurt am Main , at the Friedrichs-Universität in Halle (Saale) and at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Berlin , where he passed his medical state examination in 1922 and PhD on the topic of hyoid bone osteomyelitis .

Immediately afterwards, Mendel worked for several years as an assistant to Alfred Goldscheider at the III. Medical Clinic of the Friedrich Wilhelms University . During this phase his first scientific work was carried out, in particular for the development of quantitative chemical methods for clinical analysis. The micro-methods he developed for determining glucose and lactic acid in body fluids remained the standard of medicine for decades. In addition, he presented studies on irritation therapy of inflammatory diseases with phenylquinoline carboxylic acid (leukotropin). In addition to his clinical work, Mendel also worked as a general practitioner at times. From 1925 he built a small private research laboratory that he was able to operate until 1933. During this time, he worked closely with Otto Warburg from the Kaiser Wilhelm Society to work on aerobic and anaerobic glycolysis of tumors .

After the transfer of power to the National Socialists , Mendel was expelled as a Jew and immediately emigrated , first to Paris and from there to the Netherlands, where he initially worked for a cosmetics company. In Bussum, North Holland, between Hilversum and Amsterdam , he was able to continue his work on tumor metabolism in a private laboratory, with the discovery of the inhibitory effect of glyceraldehyde on the anaerobic glycolysis of tumors being particularly noteworthy.

His aunt and mother-in-law Antonie "Toni" Mendel entrusted the management of his property in Berlin-Nikolassee Am Sandwerder 39 to the Berlin lawyer and notary Oskar Guttmann (1885-1944), who rented the villa Am Sandwerder 39 in 1934 to the film director Arnold Fanck and in 1939, in the context of the “ Aryanization ”, urged him to purchase the property.

Mendel left the Netherlands and emigrated to Canada via Southampton in England on September 7, 1938 . There he became an assistant professor, later an associate professor and then a full professor and holder of the chair for cell physiology at the Banting Institute of the University of Toronto in Toronto , Ontario , Canada . In 1939 he was naturalized as a Canadian citizen .

In 1943, the Ontario Provincial Parliament decided on an investment of 500,000 Canadian dollars to build a cancer research, diagnosis and treatment center in Toronto to take advantage of the fact that one of the world's most famous cancer specialists was disrupted because of the anti-Semitic persecution in the Nazi regime State had to emigrate to Canada. It referred to Bruno Mendel.

In Canada he achieved pioneering work on the characterization and isolation of cholinesterases (ChE) and pseudocholinesterases (also: butyrylcholinesterase, BuChE) in animal and human tissues. These work results formed a decisive basis for the knowledge gained later on neurotransmission . They had and still have great value for practical medicine. Anesthesia , for example, benefited from this, as the findings provided the scientific basis for modern anesthesia techniques and contributed to the avoidance of anesthetic incidents.

Mendel strictly refused to participate in secret studies on the effects of warfare agents in the context of this field of work. He remembered the consequences of the use of poison gas in the First World War too well .

From left: Ruth and Bruno Mendel, Josef Eisinger and Hertha Mendel, 1943

In Toronto he made a special effort to support young Jewish emigrants in need after hearing of their difficulties as enemy aliens during their internment after the capitulation of France . He therefore took on guarantees for five unknown students , freed them from internment and invited two of them to live in his house, Josef Eisinger and Walter Kohn . Henry Kreisel was among the five students sponsored by Mendel . Kohn later left Canada because of its anti-refugee and anti-Jewish policies and moved to the United States . During World War II , Mendel tried to persuade the Canadian government to relax its restrictive immigration policy on Jewish refugees, particularly scholars, but met with little support.

In 1950 Mendel returned to Amsterdam as a visiting professor for six months before he was appointed to the chair of pharmacology at the Universiteit van Amsterdam . Here he resumed his investigations into the energy metabolism of tumors and cholinesterases. During the last years of his university career he suffered from serious illnesses.

The Berlin property with Villa Am Sandwerder 39 was transferred back to Antonie "Toni" Mendel in 1953 as part of the restitution of Jewish property expropriated during the Nazi era on the basis of the US Military Government Act No. 59 after a decision by the Reparation Chamber of the Berlin Regional Court .

In 1957 Bruno Mendel became a Fellow of the Royal Society . He died at the age of 61.

Publications (excerpt)

Memberships (excerpt)

Bruno Mendel Fellowships

The Royal Society awarded Bruno Mendel Traveling Fellowships from 1963 to around 2008 to promote scientific exchange between medical researchers.

Web links

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m August W. Holldorf: Mendel, Bruno . In: Neue Deutsche Biographie 17 (1994), p. 38 f., On: deutsche-biographie.de
  2. ↑ a b Wilhelm Siegmund Feldberg: Bruno Mendel, 1897-1959 . In: The Royal Society , Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, November 1, 1960, at royalsocietypublishing.org
  3. ^ WS Feldberg: Mendel, Bruno . In: Biographical Memoirs of the Fellows of the Royal Society Vol. 6 (1960), pp. 191-200
  4. ↑ Marriage certificate No. 20 from January 14, 1897, registry office 3 Hamburg, notarized by the registrar Neubert
  5. ↑ a b Felix Mendel (December 19, 1925) . In: Epidat, epigraphic database of the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute for German-Jewish History at the University of Duisburg-Essen, on: steinheim-institut.de
  6. ↑ Joseph Walk (ed.): Short biographies on the history of the Jews 1918–1945 . Edited by the Leo Baeck Institute , Jerusalem. Saur, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-598-10477-4 , p. 262
  7. ^ Directory of the members of the synagogue community in Essen (1910). In: Hermann Schröter: History and Fate of the Essen Jews . Druck-Partner, Essen 1980, OCLC 983765104 , pp. 297-317, 624, 658 (quotation point p. 312)
  8. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Prof. Dr. Josef Eisinger: Escape and Refuge - memories of an eventful youth (PDF file; 11.9 megabytes). Edited by Documentation archive of the Austrian resistance. Vienna 2019, ISBN 978-3-901142-74-1 , pp. 118–152, 239
  9. ↑ Elizabeth Ellis marries Mr. Gerald Albert Mendel . In: The Ottawa Journal , December 24, 1951, p. 13
  10. ↑ Harold A. Skaarup: Out of Darkness-Light - A History of Canadian Military Intelligence . iUniverse 2005, ISBN 978-0-5958-0382-8 , p. 309
  11. ↑ Gerald Mendel . In: Ottawa Citizen , May 10, 2014, at: remembering.ca
  12. ↑ Contemporary photos of the Fischbein & Mendel department stores at Lindenstrasse 44–47 and Lindenstrasse 51–53 , with the Lindenstrasse 48–50 synagogue in between , at: stadtbild-deutschland.org
  13. ↑ Office building & industrial area Axel-Springer-Straße 44 . In: Landesdenkmalamt Berlin , monument database, on: berlin.de
  14. ↑ Berliner Architekturwelt 14 (1912), pp. 203–207
  15. ↑ Karl-Heinz Hüter: Architecture in Berlin 1900-1933 . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-1700-9732-6 , p. 71
  16. ^ Klaus Konrad Weber: Hans Bernoulli in Berlin . In: Hans Bernoulli - architect and urban planner , ed. v. Karl and Maya Nägelin-Gschwind, with a preface by Mario Botta , Birkhäuser, Basel / Boston / Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-7643-2829-0 , pp. 22, 27–28, 136 ff.
  17. ^ Georg Dehio : Dehio - manual of the German art monuments Berlin . Ed. Vd Dehio Vereinigung e. V. Deutscher Kunst-Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-422-03111-1 , p. 311
  18. ^ Adolf Behne : Designs and Buildings by Walter Gropius . In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung , Volume 42, No. 104, December 27, 1922, pp. 637–640
  19. ^ Henrik Schnedler: Unknown interiors by Walter Gropius . In: Norbert Huse (ed.): Lost - endangered - protected . Argon-Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-8702-4131-4 , pp. 292-303
  20. ^ Rainer Pohl: Mendell House, Am Sandwerder 37, Wannsee . In: Repairing, Renovating, Restoring - Exemplary Monument Preservation in Berlin . Edited by Landesdenkmalamt Berlin, Wiederspahn, Wiesbaden 1998, page 52 ff. OCLC 215772314
  21. ↑ Monuments in Berlin - Steglitz-Zehlendorf district, Wannsee district (= monument topography Federal Republic of Germany ). Edited by Landesdenkmalamt Berlin, Michael Imhof-Verlag, Petersberg 2013, ISBN 978-3-8656-8931-3 , p. 139 f.
  22. ↑ a b Prof. Dr. Josef Eisinger: Einstein, Toni, and Me , on: tabletmag.com
  23. ↑ a b Villa Mendel . In: Landesdenkmalamt Berlin, monument database, object no. 09075518, on: berlin.de
  24. ↑ Modern asymmetry from Weimar , on: berliner-grabmale-retten.de
  25. ↑ Tour , on: jewish-cemetery-weissensee.org
  26. ↑ Albert Mendel's grave, Weissensee Jewish Cemetery, Berlin , at: nedelykov-moreira.com
  27. ↑ a b Barbara Kobek: The Villa "Am Sandwerder 5" - Literary Colloquium Berlin . In: Zehlendorf - old and new about people, landscapes and buildings (yearbook 1999). Edited by Heimatverein for the district of Zehlendorf (1886) e. V. and the Zehlendorf district office of Berlin. Verlag Presse Peterburs, Berlin 1999, p. 134 f.
  28. ↑ House at Am Sandwerder 39 . In: Landesdenkmalamt Berlin, monument database, object no. 09075519, on: berlin.de
  29. ^ Jewish address book for Greater Berlin , edition 1929/30 , Goedega Verlags-Gesellschaft mbH Berlin, p. 226
  30. ^ Jewish address book for Greater Berlin , edition 1931/32 , Goedega Verlags-Gesellschaft mbH Berlin, p. 275. In: Central and State Library Berlin, on: zlb.de
  31. ↑ House at Am Sandwerder 39 . In: Landesdenkmalamt Berlin, monument database, on: berlin.de
  32. ^ Julius Posener: Berlin on the way to a new architecture . Prestel, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-7913-1476-9 , p. 631
  33. ↑ Dr. Angelika Kaltenbach: Repairs in accordance with monument regulations in Wannsee in monument protection and preservation , Berlin 2001, p. 89 f.
  34. ↑ Monuments in Berlin - Steglitz-Zehlendorf district, Wannsee district (= monument topography Federal Republic of Germany ). Edited by Landesdenkmalamt Berlin, Michael Imhof-Verlag, Petersberg 2013, ISBN 978-3-8656-8931-3 , p. 141
  35. ^ Reichsministerialblatt - Zentralblatt für das Deutsche Reich (RMBliV.), Volume 68, ed. v. Reich Ministry of the Interior . Carl Heymanns Verlag , Berlin 1940, p. 251: Reichsgesetzblatt I, p. 1162, 80th order of July 26, 1940, Reichsministerialblatt p. 196: “[…] As an area within the meaning of Section 1, Paragraph 2 of the Law on Reorganization German cities of October 4, 1937, the properties in the administrative district of Zehlendorf apply: Berlin-Wannsee, Am Sandwerder 33 to 41 (odd numbers), [...] "
  36. ↑ Rabindranath Tagore: The Religion of Man . George Allen and Unwin, London 1931, Fifth Impression 1958, Appendix II: Note on the Nature of Reality , pp. 222-225
  37. ↑ Anthony Sudbery: Einstein and Tagore, Newton and Blake, Everett and Bohr - The dual nature of reality (PDF file; 2.1 megabytes), pp. 3–5, on: pitt.edu
  38. ↑ Sitansu Ray: The Tagore-Einstein Conversations - Reality and the Human World, Causality and Chance . In: Tymieniecka AT (Ed.): Heaven, Earth, and In-Between in the Harmony of Life (= Analecta Husserliana, The Yearbook of Phenomenological Research , Vol. 47). Springer-Verlag, Dordrecht 1995, ISBN 978-94-010-4110-2
  39. ↑ Einstein's Caputher guest book , on: einstein-website.de
  40. ↑ In the Berlin address book from 1935 three people are listed, named Oscar and Oskar Guttmann. 1. Dr. Oscar Guttmann lived at Mommsenstrasse 66 in Berlin-Charlottenburg and worked as choir conductor for the New Jewish Synagogue on Oranienburger Strasse in the XV district ( Spandauer Vorstadt ) of Berlin-Mitte ; 2. Oskar Guttmann, who lived at Kurfürstenstrasse 40 in Berlin W35 ( Schöneberg ), worked as a church servant; 3. Oskar Guttmann, who was registered at Speyerer Strasse 10 in Berlin W30 (Schöneberg), was a lawyer and notary. He is the only one of these three people who is already listed in the Jewish address book for Greater Berlin , edition 1929/30, there at the address Potsdamer Strasse 82a in Berlin W57 (Schöneberg), in the edition 1931/32 at the address Potsdamer Strasse 26a in Berlin W35 (Schöneberg). From today's point of view and according to the current state of research, this lawyer and notary could be from the family of Dr. Bruno Mendel was commissioned to manage their property in Berlin-Nikolassee (until about 1930: Nicolassee), Am Sandwerder 37 and 39. The lawyer Oskar Guttmann was born on June 19, 1885 in Hildesheim . On May 19, 1943, he was deported from Berlin on Transport I / 94 to the Theresienstadt concentration camp and from there on October 19, 1944, to the Auschwitz concentration camp and murdered. Quoted from: Jewish address book for Greater Berlin , edition 1929/30 , Goedega Verlags-Gesellschaft mbH Berlin, p. 121. In: Central and State Library Berlin, on: zlb.de; Quoted from: Jewish address book for Greater Berlin , edition 1931/32 , Goedega Verlags-Gesellschaft mbH Berlin, p. 142. In: Central and State Library Berlin, on: zlb.de; Quoted from: Berliner Adreßbuch 1935 , first volume, 1st part, Verlag August Scherl Deutsche Adreßbuch-Gesellschaft mbH, p. 541. In: Central and State Library Berlin, on: zlb.de; Quoted from: Guttmann, Oskar . In: Yad Vashem - The World Holocaust Remembrance Center , on: yadvashem.org; Quoted from: Oskar Guttmann . In: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum , at: ushmm.org; Quoted from: Bundesarchiv Koblenz, International Tracing Service Arolsen (edit.): Memorial book - Victims of the persecution of Jews under the Nazi tyranny 1933–1945 . Federal Archives, Koblenz 1986, ISBN 3-89192-003-2 ; Quoted from: Guttmann, Oskar (memorial book) , on: bundesarchiv.de
  41. ↑ Fanck, A., Dr., Regiss., Am Sandwerder 39 (Post Bln.-Wannsee, Bahnhofstrasse), owners as Am Sandwerder 37: Mendel, B., Dr. (Holland) . In: Berliner Adressbuch , edition 1935, first volume, west 380, part IV, Nikolassee, p. 1356
  42. ^ Suggest German Cancer Expert Aid Ont. Clinic . In: The Ottawa Journal , April 8, 1943, p. 9
  43. ↑ Announce $ 75,000 in Awards for Ontario Cancer Research . In: The Ottawa Journal , Aug. 21, 1947, p. 10
  44. ^ Henry Kreisel: The Rich Man - a Novel. McClelland & Steward, Toronto 1948 OCLC 719120185 , dedicated to the Bruno Mendel family
  45. ^ How Canada Lost its Nobel prize . In: Ottawa Citizen , October 16, 1998
  46. ↑ Annette Puckhaber: A privilege for the few - The German migration to Canada in the shadow of National Socialism (PDF file, 2.5 MB). LIT-Verlag, Münster 2002, p. 45 (144)
  47. ↑ Letter from the grandson of Arnold Fanck, Matthias, dated November 10, 2019 to the Landesdenkmalamt Berlin , typewritten, unpublished
  48. ↑ Bruno Mendel traveling fellowships . In: Nature , Vol. 232, July 16, 1971
  49. ↑ Bruno Mendel Traveling Fellowship , on: gov.uk
personal data
SURNAME Mendel, Bruno
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian biochemist and medical scientist
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH eat
DATE OF DEATH 23rd August 1959
Place of death Bussum