Margareta "Minna" Flake (née Mai; November 27, 1886 – February 12, 1958) was a German born physician and socialist who fled Germany during

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and settled in New York City.

Early life

Margareta Mai was born on November 27, 1886, in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the '' Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzbur ...

in the German Empire. She was the youngest of four children born to David Mai, a Jewish

grain merchant The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals and other food grains such as wheat, barley, maize, and rice. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike ...

, and his wife, Berta Mai. She undertook medical studies from the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. The University of Würzburg is one o ...

, graduating in 1911, and the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (german: link=no, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick Will ...

, graduating in 1915, and becoming a doctor in 1920.

Career

After becoming a doctor, she practiced in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

. Prior to the rise of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

, Minna served as the chief health officer of the city of Berlin for more than ten years. At the time, she was well known in Berlin and was particularly focused on welfare work and abortion issues as a

pediatrician Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until th ...

. She was initially involved with the

Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, USPD) was a short-lived political party in Germany during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. The organization was establis ...

, a short-lived party in the

Weimar Republic The German Reich, commonly referred to as the Weimar Republic,, was a historical period of Germany from 9 November 1918 to 23 March 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is also r ...

established in 1917 as the result of a split of left wing members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany that attempted to chart a

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to th ...

course between electorally oriented revisionism on the one hand and

Bolshevism Bolshevism (from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined party of social revolution, ...

on the other. She later joined the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...

, until her exclusion in 1927, thereafter joining the Opposition Communist Party of Germany until she joined the

Socialist Workers' Party of Germany The Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands, SAPD) was a centrist Marxist political party in Germany. It was formed as a left-wing party with around 20,000 members which split off from the SPD i ...

around 1932. During the

, she was considered

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

by the Nazis and was dismissed on April 19, 1929. Four years later on April 8, 1933, she was arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one or ...

on charges of hiding Nazi opponents and performing abortions. Upon her release from custody, and that of her politically active daughter from juvenile custody, she fled Germany via Switzerland and Czechoslovakia to France in May 1933 along with

Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss (, ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair of Social Anthro ...

Victor Serge Victor Serge (; 1890–1947), born Victor Lvovich Kibalchich (russian: Ви́ктор Льво́вич Киба́льчич), was a Russian revolutionary Marxist, novelist, poet and historian. Originally an anarchist, he joined the Bolsheviks f ...

André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...

Jacqueline Lamba Jacqueline Lamba (17 November 1910 – 20 July 1993) was a French painter and surrealist artist. She was married to the surrealist André Breton. Biography Lamba was born in the Paris suburb of Saint-Mandé, on 17 November 1910 (contrary to a ...

Germaine Krull Germaine Luise Krull (20 November 1897 – 31 July 1985) was a photographer, political activist, and hotel owner.Sichel, Kim. ''Germaine Krull: Photographer of Modernity''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1999. . Her nationality has been catego ...

. Lacking her diplomas and work permits, she could only find occasional work and semi-legal practice in Paris and "remained militantly anti-Nazi." In 1941, she left France with her family on a cargo ship bound for New York, arriving in New York, via

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island and an Overseas department and region, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of ...

, on May 29, 1941. She was admitted to medical practice by the state of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1951, where she became a citizen in 1952.

Personal life

In 1907, Minna married German writer

Otto Flake Otto Flake (29 October 1880, Metz – 10 November 1963) was a German writer. Early life Flake was born on 29 October 1880 in Metz. He attended high school in Colmar and studied German philology, philosophy and art history at the University of St ...

(1880–1963), with whom she had a son, Thomas Flake, who was born in 1908. They marriage lasted until 1911. In 1917, she had a daughter, Renate "Renée" Miriam Flake, with German-French writer and essayist,

René Schickele René Schickele (4 August 1883 – 31 January 1940) was a German-French writer, essayist and translator. Biography Schickele was born in Obernai, Alsace, the son of a German vineyard owner and police officer and a French mother. He studied literat ...

, a former colleague of her husband who she met in Florence in 1907. Flake died on February 12, 1958, at

Beekman-Downtown Hospital NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital is a nonprofit, acute care, teaching hospital in New York City and is the only hospital in Lower Manhattan south of Greenwich Village. It is part of the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System and one ...

in New York City, leaving a daughter and two grandchildren.

References

External links

Flake, Minna, 1886-1958
at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The librar ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Flake, Minna 1886 births 1958 deaths Physicians from New York City Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States