The man who “invented” bioethics Fritz Jahr

Paul Max Fritz Jahr January 18, 1895 – October 1, 1953 parents: Gustav Maximilian Jahr (1865-1930), insurance official, married in 1892 to Augusta Maria Langrast (?) (1862 – 1921)

Halle an der Saale, the Sachsen-Anhalt region population 234,000 within cca 150 km: Magdeburg, Leipzig, Wittenberg, Gotha, Erfurt, Weimar, Jena, Bayreuth, Dresden, Chemnitz, Berlin, Göttingen... seat of the state/province until its abolition in Eastern Germany in 1952; after the restauration of states/provinces in the united Germany, Magdeburg becomes the seat

first mention of the city in 806 (a possible root: the pre-Germanic word Halle meaning salt) university since 1694 (today: Martin Luther University at Halle-Wittenberg) The seat of German national academy of sciences (Leopoldina) originating from Halle: Georg Friedrich Händel, Hans-Dietrich Genscher etc.

Schooling 1901: Mittelschule of the Francke Foundation; 1905: Oberrealschule of the Francke Foundation; Easter 1914: taking A-levels (Abitur); 1915: additional exam of Latin and Greek; study (all together 8 semesters): 1914: philosophy, music, history, national economy 1915-1919: mostly theology (first exam in 1919, the second in 1921); War volonteer: Summer term 1915 taking holy orders: March 19, 1921

Career teacher: 1917 – private school; 1917 – pre-school (Vorschule) and Mittelschule of the Francke Foundation; 1920 – the elementary-school teacher’s exam (Mittelschullehrerprüfung; religion and history); 1921 – entering the city service (Wittekindschule (?), as a replacement for the future rector, Bonin); 1923 – 1925: teacher by the Halle Public Schools Administration; May 2, 1925 – leaving public school system due to “discord with the then Education Committee” (1917 – 1925: worked at 11 different schools); Summer 1926: Francke Foundation elementary school; 1926 – 1928: the Seydlitz high school for girls (left as “he did not believe the private schooling system would give him long-term satisfaction”); 1938: briefly as a replacement at the Huttenschule; 1943 – 1945: cello teacher at the National Education Centre Music School (Musikschule der Volksbildungsstätte)

1925 – 1929: curate at St. John’s church in Dieskau (Halle); 1929 – 1930: curate in Braunsdorf; 1930 – 1933: pastor in Canena/Kanena

Personal life wedding: April 26, 1932 in Halle wife: Elise Neuholz (born December 31, 1899, »a worker from Bludau «(?), father: Franz Hermann Neuholz, teacher, (1867-1903), (grandfather: Friedrich Ferdinand Neuholz, farmer, 1822-1909) children: none address: Halle, Albert Schmidtstrasse 8 retired: March 1, 1933 (in 1932, a communication on leaving the church service after his own wish – »nervous exhaustion«) June 18, 1945: trying to get a job at the new elementary school died: October 1, 1953 in Halle

Fritz Jahr’s publications (1927-1938) ”Bio-Ethik: eine Umschau über die ethischen Beziehungen des Menschen zu Tier und Pflanze” [Bio-ethics: a panorama of ethical relations of man toward the animal and the plant] (Kosmos, 1927; ”Der Tod und die Tiere: eine Betrachtung über das 5. Gebot” [Death and animals: a consideration of the 5th Commandment] (Mut und Kraft, 1928); ”Tierschutz und Ethik in ihren Beziehungen zueinander” [Animal protection and ethics in their relation to each other] (Ethik: Sexual- und Gesellschaftsethik, 1928; ”Soziale und sexuelle Ethik in der Tageszeitung” [Social and sexual ethics in daily press] (Ethik: Sexual- und Gesellschaftsethik, 1928; ”Wege zum sexualen Ethos” [Ways toward sexual ethos] (Ethik: Sexual- und Gesellschaftsethik, 1928; ”Zwei ethische Probleme in ihrem Gegensatz und in ihrer Vereinigung im sozialen Leben” [Two ethical problems in their opposition and in their unification in social life] (Ethik: Sexual- und Gesellschaftsethik, 1929; ”Gesinnungsdiktatur oder Gedenkfreiheit? Gedanken über eine liberale Gestaltung des Gesinnungsunterrichts” [Dictatorship of worldviews or the freedom of thought? Considerations on the liberal structuring of teaching the attitudes] (Die neue Erziehung, 1930); ”Unser Zweifel an Gott: subjektive Gedanken beim Thema eines Anderen” [Our doubt in God: subjective reflexions upon the topic of an Other] (Ethik: Sexual- und Gesellschaftsethik, 1933); ”Vom Leben nach dem Tode: aus J. A. Comenius ’Didactica magna’” [On life after death: from ’Didactica magna’ by J. A. Comenius] (Ethik: Sexual- und Gesellschaftsethik, 1933); ”Gedanken über die liberale Gestaltung des Gesinnungunterrichts” [Thoughts on the liberal formation of teaching of worldview] (Die neue Erziehung, 1933) ”Drei Studien zum 5. Gebot” [Three studies to the 5th Commandment] (Ethik: Sexual- und Gesellschaftsethik, 1934); ”Jenseitsglaube und Ethik im Christentum: eine nachösterliche Betrachtung” [Believing in the other world and ethics in Christendom: a post-Easter consideration] (Ethik: Sexual- und Gesellschaftsethik, 1934.); ”Die sittlich-soziale Bedeutung des Sonntags” [The customary-social importance of Sunday] (Ethik: Sexual- und Gesellschaftsethik, 1934.); ”Zweifel an Jesus: eine Betrachtung nach Richard Wagners ’Parsifal’” [The doubt in Jesus: a consideration after Richard Wagner’s ’Parsifal’] (Ethik: Sexual- und Gesellschaftsethik, 1934.); ”Ethische Betrachtungen zu innerkirchlichen Glaubenskämpfen” [Ethical considerations to internal ecclesiastic struggles over faith] (Ethik: Sexual- und Gesellschaftsethik, 1935.); ”Glaube und Werke in ihrem Gegesatz und in ihrer Vereinigung” [Faith and deeds in their opposition and their unification] (Ethik: Sexual- und Gesellschaftsethik, 1935.); ”Drei Abschnitte des Lebens: eine Betrachtung nach II. Korinther 5, 1-10 und nach dem Apostolischen Glaubensbekenntnis” [Three segments of life: a consideration after 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 and after the Apostles’ Creed] (Nach dem Gesetz und Zeugnis, 1938); the article of Fritz Jahr from 1947, mentioned in Internet quotes, speaking of the origin of Sunday feast.

Croatian bioethicists Fritz Jahr Rolf Löther (1997/1998) ? W. Reich (cca 2003) E.-M. Engels (2001/2004) ? I. Šegota (cca 2004) J.-R. Goldim (2006/2009) H.-M. Sass (2007–) F. Lolas Stepke Croatian bioethicists N. Lima