Herxheimer, karl

(¤ 1861,  1942) The German dermatologist Karl Herxheimer was born in Wiesbaden on 26.6. 1861 as the youngest of 10 children of a wealthy Jewish family. Of his siblings, the 20 years older brother Salomon, a student of Ferdinand von Hebra (Vienna), who settled in Frankfurt as a dermatologist in 1874, had the greatest influence on him. He studied medicine in Freiburg, Strasbourg and Würzburg. 1885 doctorate in Würzburg; subject: Lues cerebri. Pathological training with Carl Weigert/Frankfurt. Subsequently assistant to Albert Neisser/Breslau. From October 1887 he worked as a resident dermatologist in Frankfurt. In 1894 Herxheimer was appointed head of the new municipal skin clinic in Frankfurt/Main. 1895 foundation of the Southwest German Association of Dermatologists together with Karl Touton and Friedrich Hammer. 1902 Groundbreaking description of the (Jarisch) Herxheimer reaction (massive formation of antigenic determinants with a general toxic effect during initial therapy of syphilis with mercury preparations), which had previously been described by Alfred Buchwald in 1886 and Adolf Jarisch in 1895. 1902 together with K. Hartmann groundbreaking description of the acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans named after Herxheimer. First description of this clinical picture probably already in 1883 by Alfred Buchwald, Breslau and later again by Filipp Josef Pick, who called it erythromellia. In 1907 Herxheimer was honoured with a titular professorship, a special distinction granted to him without habilitation due to his special services to Frankfurt dermatology. In 1914 he was appointed full professor for the subject when the Frankfurt University was founded. Herxheimer's students included Curt Emmricht, who became famous as a writer under the pseudonym Peter Bamm. In 1929 he resigned from the services of the university. His successor became Oscar Gans in 1930. In 1938 Karl Herxheimer's license to practice as a writer was revoked by the National Socialist regime. On 6.12.1942 he died in the concentration camp Theresienstadt.