Ferdinand Mainzer

Ferdinand Mainzer (1871–1943) was a German-Jewish gynaecologist and historical author.

Born 16 January 1871,[1] Mainzer wrote his doctoral disseration on wandering spleen. In the 1890s he worked at the Berlin clinic of the gynecologist Leopold Landau.[2][3]

Mainzer had artistic connections and historical interests. He married Gertrud Sabersky, a student of the artist Walter Leistikow, and his own portrait was painted by Lovis Corinth in 1899.[4] After a hand injury meant that he could no longer perform surgery, he turned to writing about antiquity.[5] He was interested in numismatics, and a friend of the numismatist Edward Gans.[6] His biography of Julius Caesar was translated into French and English, and widely reviewed. The book inspired Thornton Wilder to write his own novel about Caesar, The Ides of March.[7]

Mainzer was a close friend of the Catholic priest Friedrich von Erxleben, who was a member of the Solf Circle of intellectuals involved in the resistance against Nazism.[5] Mainzer and his family were helped to escape to England by the daughter of Wilhelm and Hanna Solf, the Countess So'oa'emalelagi "Lagi" von Ballestrem-Solf, who escorted them with their jewellery hidden in the lining of her clothes.[8]

Mainzer died 3 January 1943.[1][9] His daughter Luci Manén married Otto John in 1949.[10]

Works

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Thomas Corinth, ed., Lovis Corinth: eine Dokumentation, Wasmuth, 1979, p.377
  2. British Gynaecological Journal, Vol. 12 (1896), p.546
  3. The American journal of obstetrics and diseases of women and children, Vol. 36 (1897), p.170
  4. Horst Uhr, Lovis Corinth, p.117
  5. 5.0 5.1 Konrad Weber, Prof. Dr. Dr. Friedrich Erxleben, October 2008.
  6. Eduard Gans Family Collection 1796-1982
  7. Richard Henry Goldstone, Thornton Wilder: an intimate portrait, Saturday Review Press, 1975, p.126
  8. Peter J. Hempenstall & Paula Tanaka Mochida, The lost man: Wilhelm Solf in German history, p.233
  9. Another source suggests his year of death as 1944. Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen, Vol. 14 (1973), p.276
  10. Otto John, Twice through the lines: the autobiography of Otto John, Macmillan, 1972, p.194.