Tag Archives: Germany

Jew of the Week: Ernst Gräfenberg

Ernst Grafenberg

Ernst Gräfenberg (1881-1957) was born in Adelebsen, Germany, where his father was a successful businessman and head of the Jewish community. Gräfenberg studied medicine and earned a Ph.D by the time he was just 23. He first worked as an ophthalmologist, then shifted his focus to gynecology. At the same time, he did important research on cancer, presenting a theory on metastasis. Following his World War I service as a medical officer, for which he was decorated with an Iron Cross, Gräfenberg became the chief of gynecology at a Berlin hospital. He did simultaneously did research on reproduction at Berlin University. In 1929, he invented the first modern contraceptive intrauterine device (IUD), then called the “Gräfenberg ring”. Today, IUDs are the most widely used form of female contraception, with nearly 200 million users around the world. Unfortunately, the Nazis forced Gräfenberg to give up his posts in 1933. Despite pressure to leave Germany, he continued his gynecology practice, thinking that he would be safe since many of his patients were the wives of Nazi officials. Nonetheless, Gräfenberg was arrested and spent three years in prison. It wasn’t until 1940 that he was finally able to flee to the US (through Siberia and Japan). There, Gräfenberg continued his studies on female physiology. Among other things, he described a little-known erogenous zone that was later named after him: the “Gräfenberg spot”, better known as the “G-spot”. He also did important work on egg implantation and pathology. The effects of Parkinson’s Disease forced Gräfenberg to retire in 1953, and he passed away several years later in New York City.

Words of the Week

Humility is not a question of thinking less of yourself, it’s a question of thinking of yourself less.
– Larry Bossidy

Jew of the Week: Uzi Gal

The Machine Gun that Saved President Reagan

Uzi Gal

Uziel Guthardt Glass (1923-2002) was born in Weimar, Germany. His family fled from the Nazis to England in 1933, and from there made their way to Israel in 1936. They joined a kibbutz and changed their last name to Gal. From his youth, Gal was interested in weapons engineering, and designed his first automatic gun (which shot arrows) at age 15. At 20, now a member of the Jewish Haganah defense force, he was arrested by British troops for carrying a gun (forbidden to Jews in Israel at the time) and spent three years in prison. It was during his service in Israel’s War of Independence that he began designing a new, smaller, safer, and more effective submachine gun. In 1951, the IDF adopted his design, giving birth to the famous “Uzi” (although Gal requested that the weapon not be named after him). The weapon was also adopted by over 90 different countries, and became the most popular submachine gun in history, with over $2 billion in sales. It has been used primarily as a personal defense weapon by officers, tank infantry, and special forces units. Most famously, it was the weapon of choice for the US Secret Service – typically hidden in a small briefcase – and was used to save President Ronald Reagan from an assassination attempt in 1981. Along with other military decorations, Gal was the first person to be granted the Israel Security Award. With the high rank of Colonel, Gal retired from the IDF in 1975 in order to take care of his daughter, and moved to Philadelphia for her medical treatment. He continued designing weapons in the US until his passing due to cancer in 2002. In 2003, the Uzi was officially retired by the IDF, praised for its instrumental role in Israel’s many military victories.

Words of the Week

The truth is, we are all living in Israel. It’s just that some of us haven’t realized it yet.
– Sam Harris

Jew of the Week: Samuel Ullman

Samuel Ullman (Photo Credit: likesuccess.com)

Shmuel Ullman (1840-1924) was born in Hechingen, Germany. Due to persecutions of Jews in the region, his family fled to the US in 1850, settling in Mississippi. Ullman spent much of his youth working in his father’s butcher shop. The Civil War broke out when Ullman was just 21, and as a citizen of Mississippi, the young man served in the Confederate Army. Following the war, Ullman got married and started a dry goods business. He became active in his town’s political and religious life, often devoting his time to the needs of the community. He then moved to Alabama and started a new hardware business. Together with his wife, they founded a hospital for the needy. Ullman also served on the Board of Education, was a key civil rights activist, and fought tirelessly to bring equal education for African-American children. His efforts led to the first free public school for blacks. At the same time, he served as the president and unofficial rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham. When he finally retired, Ullman devoted his time to writing. The most famous of his essays and poems is titled “Youth”. It was the favourite poem of American General and World War II hero Douglas MacArthur, who credited the poem with getting him through the horrors of the war. MacArthur had it framed and hanging in his Tokyo office, and introduced the poem (and its poet) to the Japanese. Many Japanese, too, were given hope by those words, ultimately making Ullman one of the most popular poets in Japan – even moreso than in America! It was the same poem that inspired Konosuki Matsushita to start a business despite his advanced age, giving birth to Panasonic. Kim Dae Jung often quoted the poem in his successful campaign to become President of South Korea, as did Robert F. Kennedy, and countless other noted figures around the world. Seventy years after Ullman’s passing, his home was turned into a museum by the University of Alabama and the Japan-America Society.

Words of the Week

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind…
… Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals…
… Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul…
– Verses from Samuel Ullman’s “Youth”