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Fritz Meyer Collection

 Collection
Identifier: AR 25573

Scope and Content Note

The Fritz Meyer Collection encompasses letters and a few medical articles of the heart specialist Fritz Meyer.

The first three folders of the collection contain Fritz Meyer's letters to his friend, poet Margarete Kollisch, who lived near him in Staten Island. All but one of the letters were sent to her from his time in postwar Germany, specifically from his time lecturing in Marburg and Berlin. All of the letters are handwritten. Some letters mention news, other individuals that they both knew, his health, his meetings with old friends, and his requests for items from the United States. His work, including articles upon which he was working, are also discussed. Folder 2 includes a brief will, which included Margarete Kollisch as a beneficiary of his belongings.

The collection's final folder holds two published medical articles by Fritz Meyer which he sent to Margarete Kollisch. The first is a biography of Ernst Ludwig Heim. The second article, "Der Arzt und das Unabwendbare" (The Physician and the Inevitable) additionally includes a typewritten draft and focuses on the relationship between physicians and death.

Dates

  • 1946-1953

Language of Materials

The collection is in German.

Access Restrictions

Open to researchers.

Access Information

Readers may access the collection by visiting the Lillian Goldman Reading Room at the Center for Jewish History. We recommend reserving the collection in advance; please visit the LBI Online Catalog and click on the "Reserve" button.

Use Restrictions

There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:

Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011

email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org

Biographical Note

Fritz (Friedrich) Mayer was born in 1875 in Berlin, Germany, the son of a physician. He studied medicine at the universities of Heidelberg, Munich, Berlin, and Freiburg, receiving his medical degree from the latter in 1899. He earned an Iron Cross for his work in the First World War and became a professor at the University of Berlin. He was a prolific writer, and authored more than eighty papers on medical topics. While at the University of Berlin he developed a new vaccine for the treatment of tuberculosis and a serum for the treatment of strep throat, which prior to the discovery of antibiotics one of the most successful treatments for the disease. He also worked on the uses of sulfonamide and was considered Europe's leading specialist in heart diseases. In 1935 he left Germany for the United States.

In New York he settled on Staten Island, where he found a position at Sea View Hospital. His research there focused on serology and bacteriology as it related to tuberculosis but also maintained his own medical practice, and included well-known individuals among his patients. Among his patients were Else Einstein, wife of Albert Einstein, and Secretary of War George H. Dern.

In 1948 he returned to Germany to lecture at the University of Marburg on the modern treatment of communicable diseases. In 1951 he went to lecture in Berlin; he died there on August 17, 1953.

Extent

0.25 Linear Feet

Abstract

The Fritz Meyer Collection contains papers of heart specialist Fritz Meyer. Included are his letters to the poet Margarete Kollisch and two medical articles.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in one series.

Digitization Note

This collection was digitized and made available in its entirety with the exception of selections from folder 4, which are available onsite only due to copyright concerns.

Related Material

Related is the Margarete Kollisch Collection, AR 25058, available online, which includes a folder of Fritz Meyer's correspondence, photographs and biographical material on him.

Processing Information

The collection was reprocessed in December 2013. At this time, the biographical note was created using information from the obituaries available in the Margarete Kollisch Collection, AR 25058, available online.

Title
Guide to the Papers of Fritz Meyer (1875-1953) 1946-1952 AR 25573
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Dianne Ritchey
Date
© 2013
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is in English.
Sponsor
Digitization made possible by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany.
Edition statement
This version was derived from FritzMeyer.xml

Revision Statements

  • July 2015: dao links and digitization information added by Leanora Lange.

Repository Details

Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository

Contact:
15 West 16th Street
New York NY 10011 United States