Rainer Emanuel
1911 - ?

Rainer Henry Emanuel was born in Frankfurt am Main on October 21, 1911. His father, Karl (also Carl) Salomon Emanuel (September 21, 1874 - October 14, 1943), who came from Mengeringhausen in northern Hesse, was head physician in the eye ward of the Bethanien Hospital in Frankfurt. From 1933, Karl Emanuel, who was baptized a Protestant but had Jewish parents, was no longer allowed to hold consultations or perform operations there due to his Jewish origins. In 1938, he was also forced to give up his private practice, where he was ultimately only allowed to treat Jewish patients. In June 1940, the University of Heidelberg, where he had studied and trained as a medical specialist, revoked his doctorate ("Dr. Emanuel is unworthy of holding a German doctorate"). Karl Emanuel was imprisoned several times and had to move to the Jewish old people's home in Hermesweg in Frankfurt's Nordend district in June 1943. This was a so-called "community accommodation for Jews". On August 19, 1943, he was arrested again and taken to the remand prison in Hammelsgasse. He died there under unexplained circumstances on October 14, 1943 (allegedly from "cardiomyopathy", but it can be assumed that he was deliberately killed by the Gestapo).

Rainer Emanuel's mother Bertha, née Bücking, was not Jewish. She was born in 1883 and married Karl Emanuel in 1908. Bertha Bücking died at the age of 38 on October 20, 1921 in Frankfurt am Main. After the death of his mother, Rainer Emanuel moved with his father from Goethestrasse to Gärtnerweg 12 in Frankfurt's Westend district. A Stumbling Stone was laid there for Karl Emanuel on May 18, 2015.
According to the ideology of National Socialism, Rainer Emanuel was considered a "first-degree half-breed". He was married to Marianne, née Mörschel (born on December 7, 1921).

Rainer Emanuel graduated from the Frankfurt Musterschule at Easter 1930. He immediately began his medical studies at the University of Frankfurt. According to his own statement, he was obstructed and harassed by members of the Nazi student group during his studies from 1933 onwards. This was particularly true when attending lectures, exchanging ideas with fellow students and also during practical work in the clinics during the semester break. Due to these obstacles, he was only able to complete his studies in the summer of 1937. He then went to Switzerland for a two-year study visit, where he worked as an intern at the Bern Women's Hospital. During this stay abroad, he was able to complete his dissertation on the subject of "Experimental studies on the neuroregulation of the ovary" (according to his own statement, his doctoral diploma was sent to him from Bern in July 1940; published in Switzerland in 1942).

One month before the outbreak of the Second World War, Rainer Emanuel returned to Frankfurt. Here he completed his practical year as a doctor, still facing great difficulties. During the first six months of his internship, he worked at the Institute of Pathology. The municipal hospital in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen put a premature end to his work in the second half of his practical year due to his "non-Aryan descent". Attempts to find a position at the Frankfurt Children's Hospital were unsuccessful. For a short time, Rainer Emanuel was then placed in the internal medicine department of St. Markus Hospital, where he was able to work until January 1941. In the same year, he was finally denied his license to practice medicine by the Reich Ministry of the Interior ("On the basis of Section 3 (2) (5) of the Reich Medical Regulations of December 13, 1935, I must deny you your license to practice medicine" - letter from the Reich Minister of the Interior dated March 18, 1941). As a result, the Frankfurt Medical Association issued a complete ban on any activity as a doctor.

As Rainer Emanuel was not allowed to work as a doctor, he was forced to change careers. He tried unsuccessfully to find an apprenticeship to train as a photographer, but according to his own statement, he then acquired the necessary skills through self-study and was apparently able to make a living as a freelance photographer. His particular focus was on the photographic documentation of buildings and art treasures in Frankfurt's old town (the "Rainer Emanuel Photo Collection" archived in the Frankfurt Institute of City History today comprises over 800 photographs).

During the Second World War, Rainer Emanuel asked the Frankfurt employment office for a job in photography, but was refused by the authorities. In his curriculum vitae, he writes that he then had to work as an unskilled worker in an armaments factory and finally got a job as a photographer at Bauer'sche Gießerei (a well-known type foundry at the time) in Frankfurt am Main with private help. From September to November 1944, he was deployed as a forced laborer for entrenchment work on the Westwall in Lorraine. Finally, at the beginning of March 1945, he was ordered by the Gestapo to work in the OT labour camp in Blankenburg/Harz (OT = Organization Todt - a paramilitary construction group. Named after the National Socialist Fritz Todt).

On June 19, 1945, Rainer Emanuel finally received permission to set up as a general practitioner, together with admission to all health insurance companies. He was granted his license as a general practitioner on 23 October 1945. He subsequently opened a medical practice in Frankfurt am Main, which he gave up again in 1952. He remained registered with the police in Frankfurt until September 1, 1953. He moved to Ethiopia, where he entered the service of the government (Government Hospital in Dessie). We currently know nothing about the rest of his life or the date of his death.

Rainer Emanuel joined the Frankfurt Alpine Club section in 1931 on the recommendation of Ernst Meissinger. It is not known whether Emanuel later left the association or was expelled. In a confidential letter from the "Führer of the German Alpine Club", Arthur Seyß-Inquart, dated February 22, 1940, to all section leaders, it is stated that "mixed-bloods who are already members cannot be excluded due to their status as mixed-bloods". In this respect, Rainer Emanuel could have remained a member of the section. However, in a similar case (Emanuel's sponsor Ernst Meissinger was also a "first-degree half-breed"), the section management decided otherwise: Ernst Meissinger was expelled from the Alpine Club.
We currently know nothing about Rainer Emanuel's activities within the association.