Günther Friedländer (April 8, 1902 – May 25, 1975) was a German and Israeli pharmacist, botanist, pharmacognosist, food chemist, an industrialist of medical products, and the founder of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.
Biography
Günther Friedländer was born on April 8, 1902, in Königshütte (Chorzów), Upper Silesia, in Germany – a developing coal industry area. His parents were Paula Kober and Adolf Aron Friedlander, a merchant in the footwear industry. In 1912, the Friedländer family moved from Kőnigshütte, an area polluted with coal dust, west to Ratibor, where a small Jewish community lived. At age 11, Friedländer joined the Jewish movement "Blau-Weiss" (Blue-White) in Ratibor. In parallel to his life-science studies, Friedländer wrote stories and plays relevant to events occurring around him, to the meaning of life, and about his longing for the land of Israel and Jerusalem such as: "In our fathers land," "Poem to Jerusalem," "Persephone, the Goddess of Spring," and "Jacob the dreamer." In 1920, Friedländer was accepted to Wilhelm Friedrich University, School of Pharmacy in Breslau, and became a member of the Zionist student movement: KJV (Kartell Jüdischer Verbindungen). Upon completing his exams and receiving the first science degree, Friedländer went to the University of Bern in Switzerland to do his doctorate studies with Alexander Tschirch. In July 1927, Friedländer completed his doctorate studies summa cum laude and received his doctorate of philosophy for his thesis on "Research in development processes within the field of Pharmacological, botanical and chemical pharmacology." After receiving his Ph.D., Friedländer returned to Breslau and worked as an assistant of Dr. A. Rop in the university faculty for Pharmacy and acted as the laboratory manager, where he taught the Pharmacy faculty students during their two last semesters in the university. At that time, Friedländer was working on analytical chemistry research under the supervision of Dr. A Rop. In November 1929, Friedlander received his pharmacist diploma signed by Dr. Shozol, the Prussian Minister for National Welfare. In April 1930, Friedländer moved to Görlitz in order to manage the pharmacy and laboratory of his aunt Else Kober, named the "Crown Pharmacy in Görlitz – (1883), "Kronen-Apotheke – Görlitz". Else Kober was a First World War widow, and a bereaved mother to her only child. Her husband Max Kober, Friedländer's uncle and the brother of his mother Paula, was a pharmacist and the owner of the pharmacy in Görlitz. He was drafted to the army during the First World War and mortally wounded. On May 31, 1933, four months after the rise of the Nazis to power, and two months following the "humiliating trip" that was forced by the Nazis on the "white collar" professional Jews in Görliz, Friedländer sailed to Palestine to explore and search for the location to establish his pharmaceutical industry to be named Teva. During his journey in Palestine, he decided to build the company in Jerusalem, and he then returned to Germany. The "Blau-Weiss" movement of which Friedländer was a member in Ratibor, advocated going to nature, to know and to love nature's gift and its flora. Since the Balfour Declaration in 1917, the "Blue-White" movement adopted Zionism values and taught in its spirit. This was a "life changing" event in Friedländer's life at age of 15. He wrote stories, poems, and a play related to Erez Israel, and directed his life towards Erez Israel to produce there medicine from locally grown plants.
Friedländer's Zionist activity
As a student in Wilhelm Friedrich University, Friedländer belonged to and was active in the Zionist student movement. This movement directed its members to immigrate to Erez Israel in the future. As a pharmacist in Görlitz, he was an active member in the Zionist circle and gave lectures from time to time. Immediately after the Nazis came to power – and after the "humiliating trip" that he experienced in Görlitz – he decided that it was time to immigrate to Erez Israel. Once there he planned to establish a pharmaceutical industry specializing in the manufacture of medical products from local plants. On April 2, 1934, Friedländer immigrated to Israel with his first wife Charlotte, followed a month later by his aunt Else Kober on May 8, 1934.
Teva
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