In a solemn academic assembly, the University and the City of Frankfurt celebrated the jubilee of “Georg Speyer House,” which Mrs. Franziska Speyer of the local Jewish banking family founded just fifty years ago to put at the disposal of Prof. Paul Ehrlich the world’s first scientific institute for research in the field of chemotherapy.
In memory of her late husband Georg, Mrs. Speyer provided a gift of several million gold marks, an unprecedentedly munificent endowment by pre-World War I standards. Here Dr. Ehrilich, founding father of chemotherapy as well as of modern haematology and the first Nobel laureate of German Jewry who refused to submit to baptism in exchange for a German professorship, discovered salvarsan.
Until his death in 1915, Dr. Ehrlich headed “Georg Speyer House.” On the grounds of “Georg Speyer House” an institute for polio research and for the testing of polio serum is now going up.
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.