Eugen Fraenkel
Encyclopedia
Eugen Fraenkel worked as pathologist and bacteriologist researcher at the Eppendorf Hospital (Eppendorfer Krankenhaus) affiliated with the University of Hamburg where he discovered the gas gangrene
Gas gangrene
Gas gangrene is a bacterial infection that produces gas tissues in gangrene. It is a deadly form of gangrene usually caused by Clostridium perfringens bacteria. It is a medical emergency....
bacillus
Bacillus
Bacillus is a genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria and a member of the division Firmicutes. Bacillus species can be obligate aerobes or facultative anaerobes, and test positive for the enzyme catalase. Ubiquitous in nature, Bacillus includes both free-living and pathogenic species...
(Bacillus fraenkeli, later renamed Clostridium perfringens). He served in the German military during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Eugen Fraenkel was married to Marie Fraenkel (née Deutsch, 1861–1944) with whom he had three children: Max Fraenkel (1882–1938), Hans Fraenkel (1888–1971), and Margarete Kuttner née Fraenkel (1884–1944). Hans left Germany to work as an economist and journalist in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, his descendants living in Switzerland and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Max, a physician in Hamburg, committed suicide under pressure of antisemitic chicanery. Marie perished in the Theresienstadt concentration camp, and Margarete, who had moved to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, during the last gassing at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in November 1944.
Sources
- Personal communication from Paul Kuttner, New York City, USA, son of Margarete Fraenkel née Kuttner
- Carl Crauspe: Fraenkel, Eugen in Neue Deutsche Biographie Bd.: 5 , Berlin, 1961
- Paul Kuttner, An Endless Struggle : Reminiscences and Reflections, Vantage Press, 2009