Kurt Henius was born as the second son of the Jewish couple Julian and Emma Henius. His older brother Max was already born in 1878. Soon the family moved to Berlin. Kurt had converted to Protestantism. He married Madeleine Henius, a Catholic, née Madeleine Latarse, in Longwy on March 28, 1897.1 The couple had four children (Madeleine, born March 28, 1916; Max, born February 23, 1919; Kurt, born April 24, 1927; and Marianne, born April 27, 1942).2
Kurt Henius was licensed in 1908 and received his doctorate in Freiburg im Breisgau with a thesis on „Über die Abhängigkeit der Empfindlichkeit der Netzhaut von der Flächengröße des Reizobjektes“.3 He then took up a position as an intern at the II. Medical Clinic of the Charité in Berlin under Friedrich Kraus (1858-1936) and Gustav von Bergmann (1878-1955).4 Henius habilitated in internal medicine in 1927 and was appointed associate professor. He was appointed non-civil servant professor (extraordinarius) in 1930.5
Henius was dismissed following the National Socialist takeover in 1933, and lost his teaching license in 1935 due to the "Reichsbürgergesetz" (Reich Citizen Law).6 Henius stayed in Berlin for several more years; he lived at Landgrafenstrasse 9.7 He fled to Luxembourg together with his family in February 1938. They lived at Pasteurstrasse 119.8 After the occupation of Luxembourg by the Wehrmacht in May 1940, Henius was found by the Germans.9 His name appeared on a list of "mixed marriages" between Jews and non-Jews in 1943.10 As a doctor, he helped numerous other people persecuted by the Nazi regime, despite thus endangering himself.11 Kurt Henius died in Luxembourg in 1947 at the age of 65.12
Kurt's brother Max was eminent. He was a doctor in law. He ran the publishing house "Neufeld & Henius" during the Weimar Republic that had been co-founded by their father Julian, before it had to be sold below value during the Nazi era. As a result, Max was temporarily dependent on the financial support of his brother Kurt. Because Max resisted the regime (among other things, he refused to wear the "Jewish star"), he was arrested and eventually murdered in Auschwitz.13
The descendants of Kurt and Madeleine Henius live in Belgium and Luxembourg today, among other places.14
Vestiges of Kurt Henius' medical and scientific work can be found in various places. He published on the etiology and therapy of tuberculosis.15 He was also interested in oncological issues and lectured on this topic at the DGIM congress in 1928.16 Furthermore, there is an advertisement with the titel "He treated German Royalty" in the July 1929 issue of the "New Yorker" magazine, in which Henius advertises the Fleischmann Company's baker's yeast and its beneficial effects for the digestive system and the skin.17
Six "Stolpersteine" (stumbling stones) were laid in memory of Kurt Henius and his family in front of the house at Landgrafenstrasse 9 in Berlin on February 17, 2022.18