Karl Herxheimer

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House Westendstr. 92

Karl Herxheimer (born June 26, 1861 in Wiesbaden ; † December 6, 1942 in Theresienstadt / Theresienstadt concentration camp ) was a German dermatologist and dermatohistologist . He was a co-founder of the University of Frankfurt and the first director of the University Dermatology Clinic there and was named after the Karl Herxheimer Medal , which is awarded by the German Dermatological Society for special achievements in this field.

Life

Karl Herxheimer was the eleventh child of a wealthy family that produced several well-known doctors. He studied in Freiburg , Würzburg and Strasbourg and received his doctorate in Würzburg in 1885 on lues cerebri , a syphilitic brain disease. He then worked as an assistant to Carl Weigert , a cousin of Paul Ehrlich , at the Pathological Institute in Frankfurt am Main . In Breslau he received his dermatological training from Albert Neisser . Karl Herxheimer was very much influenced by his brother Salomon Herxheimer . After completing his training in Vienna, Ferdinand von Hebra settled in Frankfurt as a dermatologist in 1874 and founded a clinic for skin and venereal diseases in 1876. Karl initially joined his brother in 1887. The collaboration continued after 1894, when Karl Herxheimer was appointed head of the skin department of the municipal hospital in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen , founded in 1884 .

In 1895 he founded the Southwest German Association of Dermatologists together with Karl Touton (1858–1934) from Wiesbaden and Friedrich Hammer from Stuttgart. After his brother Salomon Herxheimer had a fatal accident on a mountain tour in 1899, he also became the head doctor for his clinic. He developed into the leading dermatologist of his time. He described in detail the Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction, first published by Adolf Jarisch (1850-1902) and later named after both of them . This consists in a temporary flare-up of disease symptoms due to massive decay of the pathogen at the beginning of treatment, earlier with mercury , arsenic or bismuth preparations, today also z. B. with penicillin preparations , in syphilis . In addition, he was the first to describe the Akrodermatitis chronica atrophicans Herxheimer named after him . Although never habilitation, he was appointed professor in 1907 due to its extraordinary scientific and medical services and received in 1914 the professorship in skin and venereal diseases of the University of Frankfurt am Main , whose co-founder he was.

Stolperstein in Westendstrasse. 92 for Herxheimer Karl

For his 60th birthday, a commemorative publication was published by friends and students (Springer, Berlin 1921). He did not retire until three years after reaching the age limit. Even after his retirement , Karl Herxheimer and his partner Henriette Rosenthal (his wife Olga had already died in 1928) lived in Frankfurt am Main, although he owned a house in Switzerland. In 1933 his status of emeritus was revoked and in 1941 he was given house arrest. On September 1, 1942, the university administration reported him to the Gestapo , who abducted him and his partner on the same day despite their advanced age .

Karl Herxheimer was murdered on December 6, 1942 in the small fortress of the Theresienstadt concentration camp , as was Henriette Rosenthal (born in 1873) on December 20, 1942. 70 years after his death, the German Dermatological Society erected a memorial stone in the Jewish cemetery in Rat-Beil-Strasse in Frankfurt am Main, and on the same day a first Karl Herxheimer memorial lecture was given in the city's university clinic .

Karl Herxheimer Medal

In the early 1950s, the German Dermatological Society established a prize named after Herxheimer. Since then, the Karl Herxheimer Medal has been awarded every two to three years for special achievements in the field of dermatology. Prize winners include Wolfram Sterry and Georg Stingl .

Publications by Karl Herxheimer

  • About Lues cerebri: Inaugural dissertation, Würzburg: Thein, 1885
  • Together with Hugo Müller: About the interpretation of the so-called epidermal spirals, Frankfurt a. M. 1896
  • Together with Karl Altmann : The treatment of the diseases of the hairy scalp, Halle: Marhold, 1912 (= collection of informal treatises from the fields of dermatology, syphilidology and diseases of the urogenital apparatus, 1.5)
  • Together with Wilhelm Born: About the tar treatment of skin diseases, Halle: Marhold, 1921 (= collection of informal treatises ..., New Series, Issue 4)
  • Together with Edmund Hofmann: The Skin Diseases, Guide for Students and Doctors, Berlin: Karger, 1929, 2. Erw. u. verb. Berlin: Karger, 1933

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Karl Herxheimer  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jewish nursing history in Frankfurt am Main (rubric: Recherche / Personen / Herxheimer, Karl): http://www.juedische-pflegegeschichte.de/
  2. ↑ Renate Heuer, Siegbert Wolf (ed.): The Jews of the Frankfurt University. Campus-Verlag 1997, Frankfurt / Main, New York, pp. 167–170.
  3. ↑ Obituary report (Theresienstadt): Institut Terezínské iniciativy, database of Holocaust victims, http://holocaust.cz/de/main (accessed on September 7, 2013)
  4. ^ Secret Medical Council with a yellow star in: FAZ of December 7, 2012, page 45
  5. ↑ Curriculum vitae and details on the Karl Herxheimer Medal on the DDG website, accessed on November 11, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Herxheimer, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German medic
DATE OF BIRTH June 26, 1861
PLACE OF BIRTH Wiesbaden
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1942
Place of death Theresienstadt concentration camp