Fritz Kahn. Admired, displaced, forgotten – and rediscovered

Surfing through the web.....I found about a very interesting person named FRITZ KAHN.

Seems like this man, a visionary, looked at the human body from an altogether different perspective...

Often we refer our body as a machine, but this man visualised it as a machine.....impeccably illustrating the paraphernalia of the body in his book “Der Mensch als Industriepalast” (Man as Industrial Palace)" he efficiently captured all the basic functions of our body in robust sketches not forgetting even the slightest event during the whole process.

BIOGRAPHY-

Dr. Fritz Kahn (1888-1968) was a gynaecologist in Berlin and a world-famous popular science writer who illustrated the form and function of the human body with spectacular, modern man-machine analogies. In the 1920s, his magnum opus, “Das Leben des Menschen” (The Life of Man) – a five-volume series – was renowned as a German accomplishment of global repute. In the 1930s, his books were banned and burned by the Nazis, then edited by Kahn’s publisher and reissued as plagiarisms with a superimposed anti-Semitic chapter.The Jewish intellectual was expelled from Germany, and settled in Palestine, later in France. He was eventually able to escape his pursuers, with personal help from Albert Einstein, by immigrating to the U.S., where he successfully continued his career as a bestselling author. He spent his final years in Danish exile and died in Ascona, Switzerland in 1968, when he was almost 80, after an extraordinary life and career.In Germany, Fritz Kahn was silenced. Now some thousand links on the internet demonstrate a newly aroused interest in Kahn, especially among young historians and designers. To this day, creative professionals all over the globe are inspired by the images Kahn’s staff produced for his books almost 100 years ago. Many adapt his inimitable metaphoric approach for their own contemporary interpretations.

First impressions: Halle – Hoboken – New York – Hamburg – Halle – Bonn

On September 29, 1888, Fritz Kahn is born in Halle.

Just like his father, doctor and writer Arthur Kahn, Fritz is very talented and interested in various topics.

He grows up with a Jewish-Orthodox tradition and a classical humanistic education.

The family immigrates to the USA but returns to Germany three years later.

Finally a home again: Berlin

After several relocations, the family settles down in Berlin. Kahn studies medicine, the natural sciences,

and the humanities. He also writes popular science articles for nationwide newspapers.

At the front: Alsace – Vosges – Northern Italy

During World War I, Fritz Kahn serves as an army doctor. In his spare time, he writes his first book:

»Die Milchstraße« (The Milky Way).

Fame and persecution: Berlin

After the war, Kahn works as a surgeon and obstetrician in a hospital and writes two successful books:

»Die Zelle« (The Cell) and »Die Juden als Rasse und Kulturvolk« (The Jews as Race and Cultural Nation).

At the beginning of the 1920s, he begins his family and opens a gynecological practice and a studio

where he employs secretaries and illustrators. He becomes an acclaimed author through the book series

»Das Leben des Menschen« (The Life of Man).

In a climate of growing anti-Semitism, Kahn exemplifies a liberal attitude, founds a humanistic community,

and becomes chairman of the Jüdische Altershilfe (Jewish Senior Aid). In 1933, his books are

publicly burned. Because of his Jewish heritage, he loses his medical accreditation and is banished from

Germany.

Escaping: Jerusalem – Paris – Bordeaux – Lisbon

Fritz Kahn immigrates to Palestine and later he moves to Paris with his second wife. In Switzerland, his

internationally successful book »Unser Geschlechsleben« (Our Sex Life) is published.

In 1938, Kahn’s books are registered on the Nazi »list of harmful and unwanted writings«. After the

occupation of France, he escapes to Bordeaux, where he is detained. During this time, »Der Mensch

gesund und krank« (Healthy and Ailing Man) is published in Switzerland.

Kahn escapes to Portugal and, with the help of his friend Albert Einstein, to the US in 1941.

Exile: New York

After a first attempt to return to Europe, Kahn continues his successful career in the US. In addition

to »First Aid« and »Man in Structure and Function«, he publishes »Das Atom – endlich verständlich«

(The Atom – Finally Explained), »Das Buch der Natur« (The Book of Nature), and »Design of the Universe«.

Back to Europe: Ascona – Lugano – Munkerup – Locarno

In 1956, Kahn finally returns to Europe and settles in Switzerland. Among other articles, he issues a

matrimony guidebook entitled »Muss Liebe blind sein?« (Must Love Be Blind?).

After surviving a serious earthquake in 1960 in Morocco, Kahn lives and works in Denmark. He develops

new book projects continously but is barely able to publish any of these ideas. At 79, he travels to Ascona

to hibernate. On January 14, 1968, Fritz Kahn dies in a clinic in Locarno,

(his works will be covered later)