Max Flesch

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maximilian "Max" Heinrich Johann Flesch (born January 1, 1852 in Frankfurt am Main , † May 6, 1943 in Theresienstadt concentration camp ) was a German anatomist, criminal anthropologist, gynecologist , sexual and social reformer.

Life

Max Flesch (center) behind his wife Hella (seated)

Max Flesch was the second oldest child of the Jewish Frankfurt pediatrician Jacob Gustav Flesch , who converted with his family in 1859. From 1869 Max Flesch studied medicine with Rudolf Virchow in Bonn, Würzburg and Berlin . After receiving his doctorate in 1872, he became a prosector at the anatomical institute of the University of Würzburg under Albert von Kölliker , where he completed his habilitation in 1879. In 1882 he was appointed professor of anatomy , histology and embryology at the veterinary school in Bern. This was the first time that the three anatomical areas were combined in one chair at this school. One of his students was Theodor Oskar Rubeli (1861–1952), who also became his successor when Flesch returned to Germany in 1887 after his marriage. In 1888 Flesch opened a general medical practice, then a surgical and gynecological practice in Frankfurt am Main, which he ran until 1928. Flesch had already participated as a nurse in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. During the First World War he was in charge of a military hospital .

After the National Socialists came to power , Flesch and his wife Hella moved back to their summer house in Hochwaldhausen in Vogelsberg , Hesse . He could no longer publish and was deleted on November 30, 1938 from the list of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , of which he had been a member since 1882. On September 13, 1942, the Fleschs were picked up by the Gestapo and taken by truck to a community camp in Gießen and, the next day, to an old people's home in Darmstadt . From there they were deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp on September 27, 1942 . Max Flesch died here on May 6, 1943.

plant

Flesch published innumerable specialist and popular scientific papers. In his habilitation thesis he dealt with the question of whether there is a typical criminal brain. Even if he turned to other areas in the course of his life, he still dealt with criminological topics again and again. As a doctor, he saw the criminal as a “sick person”, whose abnormal condition was often congenital or inherited on the one hand, and acquired through illness, poor nutrition, alcohol and tobacco consumption or venereal diseases on the other.

In a typical form of the time, Flesch combined social Darwinist convictions with a social hygienic impetus, which he translated into a commitment to social reforms and local politics. Together with his brother Karl Flesch , a city councilor for the left-liberal Democratic Association and head of the Frankfurt Orphan and Poor Office, he founded the Frankfurter Bund für Volksbildung in 1890 and with his wife Hella (1866–1943) in 1892 the Frankfurt housekeeping . He also played a key role in the German Society for Combating Venereal Diseases (DGBG) and for many years was chairman of the Frankfurt local group, which he founded in 1903 with Henriette Fürth . In this capacity, in 1903 he was the editor of the German edition of the controversial anti- syphilis drama “Die Schiffbrüchigen” (French: “Les Avariés”, 1901) by Eugène Brieux . A scenic performance was also organized in Frankfurt in 1912, which was attended by over 3,000 people on the first three days of the match. In his writings on sexual reforms , Flesch mixed liberal and repressive approaches. He criticized the stigmatization of prostitutes, but also advocated compulsory medical reporting of "publicly dangerous" venereal diseases.

Honors

  • On February 17, 2009 in front of Rüsterstr. 20 in Frankfurt, where Max Flesch had lived for a long time, laid a stumbling block for the Flesch couple.
  • A memorial stele of the Leopoldina in Halle (Saale) in memory of nine members of the academy who were murdered in the concentration camps of the National Socialists or who died of the inhuman and cruel conditions of the camp imprisonment also commemorates Maximilian Heinrich Flesch.

Publications (selection)

  • Investigations into criminal brains. Part I: The Pathological Findings on Criminal Corpses . Wuerzburg, 1882.
  • On the casuistry of abnormal findings in the brains of criminals and suicides. In: Archives for Psychiatry. 16 (1885), pp. 689-697.
  • To combat infectious diseases in the cities: Common hygienic considerations. With special regard to diphtheritis and scarlet fever . Frankfurt 1890.
  • Prostitution and gynecological diseases: hygienic and economic considerations. Frankfurt am Main 1898.
  • The experiment on animals in medicine and its opponents . Leipzig 1901.
  • with Ludwig Wertheimer : Sexually transmitted diseases and legal protection: considerations from the medical, legal and ethical point of view. Jena 1903.
  • as editor: Eugène Brieux: Die Schiffwüchigen: a play in 3 acts . Berlin 1903.
  • with Carl Grünwald : venereal diseases and prostitution in Frankfurt am Main; Festschrift for the 1st congress d. German Society for Combating Venereal Diseases in Frankfurt am Main, 1903 . Frankfurt am Main 1903.
  • Investigations into the dynamics of the sockets . Jena 1917.
  • For the 25th anniversary of the Frankfurt am Main local group of the German Society for Combating Venereal Diseases (DGBG): 1903 to 1928 . Frankfurt am Main 1928.
  • Brain and disposition of the criminal: contributions to the abolition of the death penalty and the introduction of a custody law. Berlin 1929.
  • 1870-1871 and 1914-1918: On caring for the wounded and sick in two wars. From my own memories . Frankfurt am Main 1930.

literature

  • Paul Arnsberg : The history of the Frankfurt Jews since the French Revolution , Volume 3: Biographical lexicon of the Jews in the areas: science, culture, education, public relations in Frankfurt am Main . Darmstadt 1983, pp. 119-121.
  • B. Vollmerhaus, H. Roos, C. Knospe, S. Reese: Max Flesch (1852–1943): Veterinary anatomist, doctor and victim of National Socialism. In: Swiss Archives for Veterinary Medicine. 150 (2008), pp. 23-28.
  • Volkmar Sigusch , Günter Grau (Ed.): Personal Lexicon of Sexual Research. Campus, Frankfurt am Main / New York 2009, ISBN 978-3-593-39049-9 , pp. 166f.
  • Initiative Stolpersteine ​​Frankfurt am Main .: 7th documentation 2009 . (PDF; 2.4 MB) pp. 29–32.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Yearbook 1995 Leopoldina. (Row 3), Volume 36, p. 381.
  2. ^ Max Flesch: Brain and disposition of the criminal: Contributions to the repeal of the death penalty and to the introduction of a custody law. Berlin 1929, pp. 132-151.
  3. ^ Lutz Sauerteig: Illness, Sexuality, Society: Venereal Diseases and Health Policy in Germany in the 19th and Early 20th Century . Stuttgart 1996, pp. 214-215.
  4. ↑ Christina Klausmann: Politics and culture of the women's movement in the Empire: The example of Frankfurt am Main . Frankfurt am Main 1997, pp. 205-207.
  5. ↑ Leopoldina erects a stele in memory of Nazi victims (2009)
personal data
SURNAME Flesch, Max
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Flesch, Maximilian H. Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German anatomist, criminal anthropologist, gynecologist, sexual and social reformer
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH May 6, 1943
Place of death Theresienstadt concentration camp