StandortProfessor-Kümmell-Straße 2
Hirschapotheke - birth house of Professor Kümmell
On May 22nd, 1852, Hermann Kümmell was born as a son of the chemist Friedrich Hugo Kümmell in the house of the "Hirsch-Apotheke". The house was erected in 1746. Until 1929, his birth street was simply called "Landstraße". Then it was renamed Professor-Kümmell-Strasse in honour of the significant citizen of Korbach.
Until 1872 Hermann Kümmell attended the Korbacher Landesgymnasium (today Alte Landes-schule). After that he studied medicine in Marburg, Würzburg and Straßburg. In 1889 he per-formed an operation which made him famous far beyond expert circles - the first appendec-tomy. Nowadays it is a standard operation for surgeons.
In 1895 he assumed the function of the chief surgeon in the hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf. In 1907 he was appointed professor. Two years later he became president of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chirurgie. In 1919 he was appointed full professor for surgery at the university in Hamburg, of which he was one of the co-founders. In Hamburg he was a pioneer of X-ray diagnostics. In 1922 he became rector of the university.
Professor Dr. Kümmell died on February 19th, 1937 at the age of 85 in Hamburg. Already in 1920, he had been appointed honorary citizen of the municipality of Korbach. Hermann Kümmell has always been loyal to his home town. He spent his holidays here many times.
© Dominik Lerch/ M. Möller
Literatur:
Hans Osterhold: Meine Stadt. Korbacher Bauten erzählen Stadtgeschichte, hrsg. vom Magistrat der Kreisstadt Korbach, 3. Aufl., Korbach 2004.
Erwin Günther und das Team des Stadtarchivs Korbach: Was die Namen der Korbacher Straßen erzählen . und was sie verbergen, hrsg. vom Magistrat der Kreistadt Korbach, 1. Aufl., Korbach. 2008.