Elias Haffter (medic, 1851)

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Elias Haffter (born February 13, 1851 in Weinfelden , † August 4, 1909 in Frauenfeld ) was a Swiss doctor and travel writer. He was one of the most outstanding professional politicians in the Swiss Medical Association and was a supporter of the Thurgau music scene.

Elias Haffter (1851–1909) doctor, writer, photographed in New York in 1883 by Mr. Traber
Elias Haffter (1883)

life and work

Elias Haffter was the second youngest of fourteen children of the doctor Elias Haffter and Susanna Munz (1806-1870) from Sulgen . He grew up in the so-called doctor house at Kirchgasse 1 in Weinfelden. Haffter was musically gifted and played the violin all his life. Together with his brother Konrad and friends he played chamber music , with Haffter mostly taking over the part of the viola.

After Haffter had completed primary and secondary school in Weinfelden and the cantonal school in Frauenfeld, he studied medicine at the University of Zurich from 1870 . He successfully completed his studies in 1874 together with Ernst von Sury . Haffter completed his "postgraduate studies" in the summer semester of 1874 in Leipzig , where he conducted pathological studies with Ernst Leberecht Wagner . The success of the same was that in the same year he did his doctorate at the University of Basel with a thesis on dermoids .

In 1874 the Thurgau government council elected him as assistant to the hospital doctor Alexander Otto Kappeler in Münsterlingen . Two and a half years later, Haffter had to retire from hospital work because of a serious infection that he had contracted during an autopsy and from which he was never to recover properly. Because of the recurring episodes of his chronic kidney disease, Haffter spent many spa stays. He made numerous trips to Ceylon, Java, China, Japan, San Francisco and by train across America to New York, before returning to Europe by ship. Haffter reported regularly about his travel experiences in magazines and in the Thurgauer Zeitung . Haffter also brought souvenirs and illustrative material from his travels, and his book "Letters from the Far East" saw several editions over the course of the next thirty years, even after his death.

In 1875 Haffner was recruited as a military doctor and served as a doctor at least once a year for the next twenty-one years. In 1891 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and division doctor of the 7th Division. In 1879 Haffter opened his own general medical and surgical practice in Frauenfeld and lived in the same household with his sister and her girlfriend until his death. From 1884 to 1897 he was a member of the Federal Examination Commission for Physicians. In 1894 Haffter founded the Frauenfeld Nursing Association. He was president of the association until his death. In 1897 he became head of the newly opened Frauenfeld hospital. In 1908 his long-standing kidney disease worsened, so that in 1909 he had to seek his discharge as a hospital doctor. A short time later Elias Haffter died in his house "Daheim" on Staubeggerstrasse in Frauenfeld.

Haffter was one of the most outstanding professional politicians in the Swiss medical society. In 1901, under his aegis, the medical associations of German, Italian and French-speaking Switzerland were united in one association. Haffter promoted the Thurgau music scene and was president of the oratorio choir Frauenfeld.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Markus Oettli: Elias Haffter-Munz (1803–1861). Retrieved December 12, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Markus Oettli: Elias Haffter's childhood home. Retrieved December 12, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Haffter, Elias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss doctor and travel writer
DATE OF BIRTH February 13, 1851
PLACE OF BIRTH Weinfelden
DATE OF DEATH 4th August 1909
Place of death Frauenfeld