Heinrich Neumann Ritter von Héthárs (10 June 1873, in Héthárs (

Lipany Lipany ('lindens;' hu, Héthárs, german: Siebenlinden, la, Septemtiliae all lit. 'seven lindens') is a town in the Sabinov District, Prešov Region in northeastern Slovakia. History The first written mention about Lipany comes from 1312. It ...

), then

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, now

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

– 6 November 1939, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) was the foremost ear-nose-and-throat doctor in Vienna before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 1938 he transmitted to the

Evian Conference Evian ( , ; , stylized as evian) is a French company that bottles and commercialises mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. It produces over 2 billion plastic bottles per year. Today, Evia ...

the infamous offer by the German government to sell the Austrian Jews at a price of $250 per capita to any foreign country that would accept them and pay. This offer - and the Conference delegates' refusal to accept it - is the focal point of

Hans Habe Hans Habe (born János Békessy; 12 February 1911, Budapest – 29 September 1977, Locarno) was a Hungarian and American writer and newspaper publisher. From 1941, he held United States citizenship. He was also known by such pseudonyms as Anto ...

's novel '' The Mission'' (1965).

Life

Heinrich Neumann studied at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

, finishing with a doctorate in 1898. Already whilst a student he concerned himself with work on the normal and pathological anatomy of the ear in Anton Weichselbaum’s institute. He subsequently worked in

Adam Politzer Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Book of Genesis, Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a coll ...

's private laboratory, and in 1900 he entered the university ear clinic, becoming assistant in 1903. In 1911 he became titular professor of

otology Otology is a branch of medicine which studies normal and pathological anatomy and physiology of the ear (hearing and vestibular sensory systems and related structures and functions) as well as their diseases, diagnosis and treatment. Otologic ...

. From 1910 on he was the ear surgeon at the Spital der Kaufmannschaft (Merchants' Hospital), and from 1912 on head of the otology department of the Franz-Josef-Ambulatorium. In 1919 he became professor extraordinary and head of the university clinic for diseases of the ear, nose and larynx, succeeding Viktor Urbantschitsch. Neumann was known as the King's Doctor. Years prior to the Anschluss, in 1935, he was contacted by Nazi Party doctors about a larynx problem that Adolf Hitler was suffering from. Prof. Dr. von Neumann, as he was by then known, refused to consider Hitler's case, explaining in his reply, that if the operation failed, it "might be construed as being connected with the fact that he is a Jew."The Palestine Post⁩, 10 November 1935⁩
"Hitler Summons Jewish Surgeon." (United Press)

... King's Doctor Dr. Neumann was understood to have replied that although he feels greatly honoured by the invitation, he felt obliged to decline because in case his treatment is not successful, the lack of success might be construed as being connected with the fact that he is a Jew. Neumann who has treated many members of royalty, is known as the King's doctor. He recently treated the Prince of Wales for ear trouble.

Neumann was also sought by

Galeazzo Ciano Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari ( , ; 18 March 1903 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian diplomat and politician who served as Foreign Minister in the government of his father-in-law, Benito Mussolini, from 1936 until 19 ...

, Mussolini's son-in-law and Italy's then Foreign Minister.Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 November 1939

CLINICAL NOTE The death in New York of Prof. Heinrich Neumann, the world famed specialist who numbered the great of the world among his patients, recalls to Ed Kleinlerer, our former Rome correspondent, an interesting anecdote. ... It concerns Count Ciano, II Duce’s son-in-law and Foreign Minister. . . . Who, during a visit to Vienna before the Anschluss, came to Dr. Neumann for treatment of a throat ailment. . . . The treatment required considerable time. . . . Ciano couldn’t arrange to stay that long in Vienna. ... So upon his return to Rome, he arranged to have the specialist invited to lecture at Rome University so that he could be treated by him during his stay. . . . Fate, however, in the person of the Horrid Housepainter, intervened. . . . Vienna was "Anschlussed," and with it Neumann was jailed. . .

After the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

, Neumann was imprisoned for being a Jew. He was married once in 1912 to Melitta von Neumann née Koppel. They had three children, Lisa Rosenblatt, Murli von Neumann and Johnny von Neumann (not to be confused with

John von Neumann John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest cove ...

the mathematician), who became a well-known racing driver and entrepreneur.

Work

Neumann was particularly recognized for his works on painless operations on bone without anaesthetics, on the clinics and pathology of intracranial complications of infections of the middle ear, equilibrium, and otosclerosis. Neumann devised a new and life-saving operation for opening the labyrinth, a technique that has later been general practice. Named after him is Neumann's Method which is a manner to apply local anaesthesia of the middle ear and the

mastoid process The mastoid part of the temporal bone is the posterior (back) part of the temporal bone, one of the bones of the skull. Its rough surface gives attachment to various muscles (via tendons) and it has openings for blood vessels. From its borders, t ...

by a

procaine Procaine is a local anesthetic drug of the amino ester group. It is most commonly used in dental procedures to numb the area around a tooth and is also used to reduce the pain of intramuscular injection of penicillin. Owing to the ubiquity ...

adrenaline Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is a hormone and medication which is involved in regulating visceral functions (e.g., respiration). It appears as a white microcrystalline granule. Adrenaline is normally produced by the adrenal glands and ...

injection on the surface of the mastoid process along the connection of the inner and outer ear and under the periost of the auditory meatus.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neumann von Hethars, Heinrich 1873 births 1939 deaths People from Lipany 19th-century Austrian people 19th-century Hungarian people Austrian knights Austrian otolaryngologists Hungarian nobility Hungarian Jews University of Vienna alumni

Heinrich Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of peo ...