The West German Post Office marked today the centenary of the birth of Heinrich Hertz, discoverer of the electromagnetic wave which makes possible radio and modern telecommunications, with the issuance of a 10-pfennig stamp. The stamp bears Hertz’ likeness. The Post Office and the city-state of Hamburg also announced that the two daughters of Hertz who fled Nazi persecution to England would be given a pension and other assistance.
Hertz, who died in 1894 at the age of 37, did not identify himself with the Jewish community, although his father was a Jew, but the Nazis persecuted his relatives and attempted to obliterate his name as a Jew. This was quite difficult since the name of the founder of the basic theory upon which radio technology is based had already been given to the “Hertzian Wave,” as the electromagnetic wave is known throughout the world, and was in common use in Germany as the kilohertz–the equivalent of the kilocycle elsewhere.
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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.
