Neter, Mia, 1894-1975

Eugen Neter was born on October 29, 1876 in Gernsbach, in the Black Forest region of Germany. He grew up in a large family, the eighth of twelve children. In 1903 he received his doctorate in medicine from the University of Heidelberg and settled in Mannheim to work as a pediatrician, then a new specialty in medicine. In 1909 he married Luise (Liesel) Janson. They had one son, Martin (later Schaul after his immigration to Palestine).

Eugen Neter practiced medicine in Mannheim until 1938. In addition to his private practice he taught health courses at the Fröbel-Seminar in Mannheim, which prepared nursery school teachers and social workers. He also wrote a number of books in the field of pediatrics, the majority of them advice for parents, as well as editing two magazines: Das Kind. Monatschrift für Kinderpflege, Jugenderziehung und Frauenwohl and the Zeitschrift für Kinderpflege, Jugenderziehung und Auflkärung . In addition he was the head doctor at a home for unwed mothers in the Neckarau district of Mannheim.

During World War I he served for four years on the front in France, for which he received the Kriegs-Rettungsmedaille .

In 1938 Eugen Neter became president of the Jewish Community in Mannheim. On October 20, 1940 the remaining Jews of Baden and the Pfalz were deported to the Gurs concentration camp. Eugen Neter was exempted from the deportation because his wife was not Jewish, but voluntarily went to Gurs in order to support the members of his community. In 1946 Eugen and his wife immigrated to Palestine to join their son at the Deganyah Alef kibbutz. His son Schaul died defending Deganyah during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Eugen Neter remained in Deganyah, where he was known as "Saba Neter" ("grandfather Neter"), until his death on October 8, 1966.

The city of Mannheim named a school for handicapped children in his honor, the Eugen-Neter-Schule.

From the guide to the Eugen Neter Collection, 1880-1976, bulk 1939-1974, (Leo Baeck Institute)