Simon Steinach
Simon Steinach (1834–1904), Physician

Simon Steinach was born on April 7, 1834 in Hohenems in what is now Schweizer Straße 9. His mother Therese Levi came from Bozen, his father Wilhelm Steinach was one of the first Hohenems Jews to be able to study and was a town physician from 1833. Simon Steinach also studied medicine in Vienna and followed his father as a community physician in Hohenems. Above all he acquired an excellent reputation as a specialist in the field of antiseptic wound treatment. In addition, he distinguished himself as a benefactor of the community in the school system and the poor, and in 1869 and 1870 he held the office of Jewish mayor. With a liberal attitude he was also involved in Vorarlberg politics. In 1893 Steinach moved to Vienna where he died in 1904. His son Josef managed one of the Rosenthal factories. His grandson Eugen Steinach, a hormone researcher in Vienna, became one of the most famous scientists of his time. His pharmaceutical work, for example the first mass-used hormone preparation Progynon, paved the way for the invention of the “pill”. In 1938 Steinach fled from the National Socialists to Switzerland, where he died in 1940.