Wilhelm Molly

Wilhelm Molly

Wilhelm Molly (born October 25, 1838 in Blasbach near Wetzlar , † February 18, 1919 in Neu-Moresnet ) was a German general practitioner and promoter of the Esperanto language .

Life

Molly studied medicine in Marburg and Halle and did her doctorate on the subject of laryngitis . In Halle he became a member of the Alemannia fraternity in 1861 . In 1863 he moved to Neutral-Moresnet and opened a family doctor's practice there on January 1, 1864. He was held in high esteem among the population because, among other things, he managed to avert an impending cholera epidemic. Soon this was followed by his appointment as company doctor / miners' surgeon at the Galmeimine of the Société Anonyme des Mines et Fonderies de Zinc de la Vieille-Montagne . As a medical officer, Molly took part in the Franco-Prussian War from 1870 to 1871 and was appointed medical councilor in 1891 and privy councilor in 1904 .

He played an important role in the history of Neutral Moresnet, where he was elected deputy mayor from 1881. For example, together with the pharmacist Dovifat and others, he founded the Kelmiser Postanstalt, which issued its own postage stamps with the bilingual inscription Psote inérieure de Moresnet , which were intended to emphasize the independence of the area. Since Neutral Moresnet was still under French law and because the postal service had to remain a state monopoly according to a law of 1711, this activity was banned after only seventeen days. As a result of the limited circulation of these stamps, these are now among the great rarities in philately .

More important, however, were Molly's efforts from 1906, together with the French professor and Freemason colleague Gustave Roy Neutral-Moresnet, under the name Amikejo (Esperanto for "place of friendship") into an Esperanto state. Many international newspapers reported on the request, which was implemented in 1908 with the founding meeting. At the 4th Esperanto World Congress in Dresden in the same year it was even decided to choose Neutral Moresnet instead of The Hague as the world capital of Esperantists, but the First World War , which began a few years later, ruined all further efforts. Today Esperanto lives on in a group of Kelmis Esperantists who celebrated their centenary in 2006 and unveiled a plaque for the initiators Roy and Molly, which is currently in the Museum Vieille Montagne .

Wilhelm Molly was married to Sophia Zamenhof, a daughter of the Esperanto inventor Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof , with whom he had twelve children. He found his final resting place in the evangelical cemetery in Kelmis.

Fonts

• Guilelmus Henricus Fridericus Molly: De laryngitide crouposa. Dissertation inauguralis medica. Lange, Berolini 1861, also: Dissertation, University of Berlin, 1861

Honors

• Wilhelm Molly received the Croix Civique from Belgium .
• Prussia made him the bearer of the Order of the Crown and the Order of the Red Eagle .
• Prussia also raised him from the medical council to the secret medical council .
• A street in New Moresnet bears his name.

literature

• Heinz Warny: Pictures of Life from Ostbelgien , Grenz-Echo Verlag, Eupen 2019, pp. 151–153 ISBN 978-3-86712-146-0

Web links

• Dr. Molly - a fascinating person , in: Grenz-Echo from October 28, 1975

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hugo Böttger (ed.): Directory of the old fraternity members according to the status of the winter semester 1911/12. Berlin 1912, p. 138.
2. ^ Sabine Weber: Amikejo, place of friendship. Deutschlandfunk, May 12, 2008
3. ^ Neutral-Moresnet 1816-1919. History in detail. ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ One hundred years of Esperanto celebrated , in Grenz-Echo of October 18, 2006
5. ↑ Love fundamentalists , in Frankfurter Allgemeine of March 27, 2007