Inventor of the Condom

Julius Fromm

Israel “Julius” Fromm (1883-1945) a Polish Jew who immigrated to Berlin, he is the inventor of the modern condom. Until his invention in 1912, most condoms were made from animal intestines and bladders. Fromm liquefied rubber with gasoline, allowing for a thin, flexible and durable condom. He received the patent in 1916 and by 1922, the “Fromm’s Act” brand was mass-produced across Europe. Today in Germany, “Fromm” is still a slang word for condom.

Words of the Week

“There is no such country as Palestine. ‘Palestine’ is a term the Zionists invented. There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria. ‘Palestine’ is alien to us. It is the Zionists who introduced it.”
– Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, to British Peel Commission, 1937