Herman jaw
Herman Kiefer (born November 19, 1825 in Sulzburg , † October 11, 1911 in Detroit , Michigan ) was a German-American doctor and politician and a diplomat from the United States .
Life
Germany
After attending grammar school in Freiburg , Mannheim and Karlsruhe , Herman Kiefer studied medicine at the universities of Freiburg , Heidelberg , Prague and Vienna . In Heidelberg he became a member of the Corps Suevia in 1845 . His academic teachers included Friedrich Arnold , Jakob Henle , Johann von Oppolzer , Louis Stromeyer , Franz von Pitha and Friedrich Wilhelm von Scanzoni . At the end of his studies, he took an active part in the political developments in Baden that led to the Baden Revolution . On September 12, 1847 he was a member of the Offenburg Assembly and the Great People's Assembly of March 19, 1848. He was elected chairman of the Upper Rhine District of the Fatherland Association and on March 26, 1848 chairman of the people's assembly in Freiburg. On May 12, 1849, he was a member of the State Congress of Baden in Offenburg .
He graduated with the doctorate to Dr. med. and passed the medical state examination with distinction on May 29, 1849 in Karlsruhe before the state examination committee . On the same day he joined the Emmendingen regiment of the Baden revolutionary troops as a volunteer, and he was immediately appointed as regimental doctor. On June 5, 1849 he was appointed chairman of the Department of Surgery and Obstetrics of the Republic of Baden.
As regimental doctor he took part in the battles of Philippsburg on June 20, 1849 and Ubstadt on June 23, 1849. On June 29, 1849, he was elected to succeed Lorenz Brentano in the triumvirate, but rejected the election.
After the revolution was put down, he fled to Strasbourg on July 10, 1849 . He was imprisoned here because the French authorities refused to grant asylum to the Baden revolutionary refugees. He managed to escape from custody. On August 18, 1849, he left Europe on a ship and reached New York City on September 19, 1849 as a free man.
United States
In October 1849, Hermann Kiefer established himself as a general practitioner in Detroit. In 1859 he was appointed Detroit City Doctor. As a medical officer at Harper Hospital, he took care of the medical care of veterans of the Civil War . In March 1889 he was elected to the board of directors of the University of Michigan and chaired the university's medical committee. In June 1902 he was appointed professor emeritus of practical medicine at the University of Michigan. He published numerous articles in medical journals. He was a member of the Michigan State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Medicine.
His special commitment was educational issues in Detroit. In 1861 he was one of the founders of the German-American Seminary there, of which he was treasurer and chairman from 1861 to 1872. From 1866 to 1867 he was a member of the Education Committee and from 1882 to 1887 of the Detroit City Library Commission.
A staunch opponent of slavery, Kiefer had been a member of the Republican Party since it was founded in 1854 . In 1854 he was chairman of the German Republican executive committee of Michigan . From 1854 to 1880 he was a Republican speaker in every presidential election campaign among the German population in Michigan and influenced the Michigan delegation to fully support Rutherford Hayes . In 1872 he was Presidential Elector of Michigan and in 1876 delegate to the Republican National Convention of Cincinnati . In July 1883 he was appointed US consul in Stettin by US President Chester A. Arthur and thus returned to his German homeland for the first time in 24 years. During his tenure, he wrote numerous consular reports on the political, social and economic conditions in Germany. After Grover Cleveland was elected US president, he resigned and returned to Detroit.
From 1871 to 1883 he was vice president of Wayne County Savings Bank, Detroit, and from 1883 to 1892 director of Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company, Detroit.
Kiefer was an excellent speaker. In addition to many campaign speeches in Detroit in 1859 on the occasion of Friedrich Schiller's 100th birthday and on March 18, 1898 on the 50th anniversary of the fighting in front of the Berlin City Palace during the German Revolution of 1848/1849, he gave the ceremonial speech.
At the advanced age of 84, he returned to Germany a second time in 1910, in order to take part in the 100th foundation festival of his Corps Suevia in Heidelberg in July 1910 .
family
Herman Kiefer was the only son of the doctor Conrad Kiefer and his wife Friederike geb. Schweyckert. His maternal grandfather was the director of the Karlsruhe Botanical Garden . On July 21, 1850, he married Franciska Kehle, to whom he had already become engaged in Germany. She and Kiefer's mother had followed him to the United States as a Forty-Eighter . Kiefer's father also came to Detroit in 1851. However, his parents returned to Germany after a brief residence in Detroit.
His marriage to Franciska Kehle had seven sons and two daughters. Two sons and a daughter died early. The son, Guy Lincoln Kiefer, became an eminent hygienist. He was a Detroit Medical Officer for many years and was appointed State Health Commissioner in 1927 .
Awards
- The Kiefer Memorial Gate to the Detroit Crematorium and a bronze plaque in the Kiefer niche of the columbarium are reminiscent of Herman Kiefer.
- The Herman Kiefer Hospital of Detroit was named in his honor in 1911 .
Fonts
- Liberty Writings of Dr. Hermann Kiefer, Chairman of the Freiburg Meeting, 1917, editor Warren Washburn Florer (with picture, curriculum vitae and biography, digitized version )
- Essay on Trichina . In: Detroit Review of Medicine and Pharmacy , Volume I, 1866, p. 101
- Surgery Within the Last Fifty Years, 1889
- Extension of European Trade in the Orient
- American Trade with Szczecin
- How Germany is Governed
- Labor in Europe
literature
- Silas Farmer: Herman Kiefer, MD in: The history of Detroit and Michigan , 1889 pp. 1089-1090 ( digitized p. 1089 , digitized p. 1090 )
- Michigan State Medical Society (editor): Medical History of Michigan , Volume I., 1903. pp. 516–517 (curriculum vitae of Herman Kiefer) ( digitized p. 516 , digitized p. 517 )
- Armin Danco: The Yellow Book of the Corps Suevia zu Heidelberg, 3rd edition (members 1810–1985), Heidelberg 1985, No. 344
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kösener corps lists 1910, 121 , 394
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pine, Herman |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kiefer, Hermann (original spelling) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-American physician and politician as well as a diplomat from the United States |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 19, 1825 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sulzburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 11, 1911 |
| Place of death | Detroit , Michigan |