Felix A. (Felix Aaron) Theilhaber

Born in Bamberg in 1884, Felix A. Theilhaber trained as a physician and became known for writing far beyond the usual boundaries of medicine. Sources describe him as a doctor, gynecologist, demographer, and early sexologist, as well as a committed Zionist who wrote extensively on Jewish social life and public questions.

He published on subjects that were controversial in his day, including contraception, abortion law, sexuality, and the demographic future of German Jewry. He also wrote about Jewish military service in the First World War, using research and documentation to push back against antisemitic myths and to record Jewish participation in German public life.

Theilhaber later left Germany and died in Tel Aviv in 1956. Taken together, his work shows a restless, wide-ranging mind: part doctor, part social critic, and part historian, always trying to connect private lives with larger questions about society and the future.