Franz Karl Meyer-Brodnitz

Franz Karl Meyer-Brodnitz 1897–1943

Franz Karl Meyer-Brodnitz (born March 16, 1897 in Berlin-Charlottenburg , † March 20, 1943 in Jerusalem ) was a German doctor and industrial hygienist .

life and work

Franz Karl Meyer-Brodnitz was born in Berlin-Charlottenburg in 1897 as the son of the banker William Meyer and his wife Elise Brodnitz. He had three siblings. He spent his youth in Berlin. As a 17-year-old senior prime minister , he volunteered for military service in 1914 after the outbreak of the First World War . He was wounded during frontline operations . After his recovery he was able to take the emergency maturity examination. Until the end of the war he served as a medical sergeant on the Western Front.

He completed his medical studies at the universities of Berlin, Heidelberg, Freiburg and Rostock in 1923 with a state examination and doctorate as a Dr. med. from. From 1923 to 1927 he worked as an assistant doctor at various Berlin hospitals and qualified as a specialist in internal medicine . At the same time, he continued his education on social hygiene issues from Alfred Grotjahn . From 1927 to 1933 he ran a medical practice in Berlin.

Due to his war experiences, Franz Karl Meyer-Brodnitz became a pacifist . Since the early 1920s he was a member of the SPD and as such was active in the working group of social democratic doctors founded in 1926 together with Raphael Silberstein , Alfred Grotjahn , Benno Chajes , Felix Königsberger , Alfred Korach and Ludwig Jaffé . In 1927 and 1931 he was elected to the Medical Association of Greater Berlin . He was also a health deputy and city councilor of Berlin, a member of the Senate of the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden and the German Society for Industrial Hygiene and a lecturer at the university.

From February 15, 1927 to June 30, 1933, Franz Karl Meyer-Brodnitz was an employee of Theodor Leipart , the chairman of the General German Trade Union Federation (ADGB) . In this function, he was a work and social hygiene advisor to the ADGB and head of the newly created department for industrial hygiene and health protection in industry. The trade unions had the task of working on the prevention of accidents and the prophylaxis of occupational diseases in industry. Meyer-Brodnitz had to organize the activities of the trade union representatives at the state company visits, or to take care of them himself and to press for the removal of grievances with the trade inspection. He also advised on legislation and administration, as well as training union members. From 1930 he was a member of the Committee on Occupational Diseases at the International Labor Office in Geneva .

After the seizure of power by the Nazis a long and ultimately futile battle began his approval. Several times this was withdrawn from him and, on complaint, up to the Reich Ministry of Labor, granted again because of his participation in the war. With his wife Vilma, whom he married shortly before emigrating, he left Berlin in November 1935 for Palestine . He managed to get one of the coveted doctor's licenses there. He opened a private family doctor's practice in Haifa and tried to gain a foothold in industrial medicine, which is almost unknown in Palestine. It was not until 1942 that he succeeded in getting his socio-medical ideas heard in the commission for industrial and social hygiene of the “Histradrut” union. His first task was to examine the situation of some factories in Haifa from an occupational health perspective. But at this point he was already seriously ill. In March 1943 he died of lung cancer.

Journal articles (selection)

• The workers welfare. 1926-1933
  • 2 (1927), H. 16, P. 507-509: Lessons in health care and social hygiene in the follow-up training course. (Digitized version)
  • 5 (1930), no. 2, pp. 44-46: Die Filmkinder in the Occupational Safety and Health Act. (Digitized version)
  • 6 (1931), H. 24, P. 745-750: Rationalization, Public Health and Reduction of Working Hours. (Digitized version)
• The work . Journal of trade union politics and economics. 1924-1933
  • 4 (1927), no. 5, pp. 332-339: Die Berufskrankheiten. Their fight by the trade unions. (Digitized version)
  • 5 (1928), no. 1, pp. 51–56: On the international regulation of the weight of the loads. An industrial hygiene examination. (Digitized version)
  • 6 (1929), no. 3, pp. 183-188: On the hygienic significance of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. (Digitized version)
  • 6 (1929), no. 8, pp. 492-498: Human labor as an object of research. Organizational plan of a research institute for industrial hygiene. (Digitized version)
  • 7 (1930), no. 3, pp. 190-196: The social hygiene training of future doctors. (Digitized version)

literature

• Eckhard Hansen, Florian Tennstedt (Eds.) U. a .: Biographical lexicon on the history of German social policy from 1871 to 1945 . Volume 2: Social politicians in the Weimar Republic and during National Socialism 1919 to 1945. Kassel University Press, Kassel 2018, ISBN 978-3-7376-0474-1 , pp. 130 f. ( Online , PDF; 3.9 MB).
• Stephan Leibfried and Florian Tennstedt (eds.). Professional bans and social policy 1933. The effects of the National Socialist seizure of power on the health insurance administration and the health insurance doctors. Analysis. Assault and self-help materials. Memories. (Working papers of the research focus on reproductive risks, social movements and social policy. No. 2. University of Bremen.) Research focus on reproductive risks, social movements and social policy University of Bremen, Bremen 1979, p. 106–128: Occupational bans and the "Association of Socialist Doctors" Here: p. 116
• Doron Netherlands. German doctors' emigration and health policy developments in "Eretz Israel" (1933-1948). In: Medizinhistorisches Journal , Volume 20 (1985), pp. 149-184. Here: pp. 169–172
• Gine Elsner. Traditions of German occupational medicine and forgotten alternatives. In: Zentralblatt für Arbeitsmedizin, Arbeitsschutz und Ergonomie. 63 (2013) 128–131 Springer preview
• Gine Elsner and Verena Steinecke. "Yes, his heart was attached to it ...". The industrial hygienist and committed trade unionist Franz Karl Meyer-Brodnitz (1897–1943). Hamburg 2013 ISBN 978-3-89965-529-2

Web links

• Literature by and about Franz Karl Meyer-Brodnitz in the catalog of the German National Library
• Jewish doctors from Germany and their part in the development of the Israeli health system.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Topic of the dissertation: About the excretion of radiothorium through the urine and gastrointestinal canal with special consideration of the pancreatic gland.
2. ↑ ILO -Origins and history. Digitized