Julius Fromm

Julius Fromm

German entrepreneur of Polish-Jewish origin; became famous as the inventor of the technology for producing seamless condoms from liquid rubber.
Date of Birth: 04.03.1883
Country: Germany

Biography of Julius Fromm

Julius Fromm was a German entrepreneur of Polish-Jewish descent who gained fame as the inventor of the technique for producing seamless condoms from liquid rubber. He was born in Konin, Poland, which was part of the Russian Empire at the time. At the age of 10, Julius and his family moved to Berlin in search of a better life. They made a living by selling cigarettes, a common occupation for many Eastern European Jews in Berlin.

Fromm's parents passed away relatively early in his life, leaving him responsible for taking care of himself and his six siblings. Recognizing the rapid mechanization of various industries, Fromm decided to attend evening school and actively study chemistry.

The First World War brought about significant changes in society, including a general loosening of sexual values and liberalization. However, it also led to an increase in sexually transmitted diseases. Condoms already existed at that time, with most being made from animal intestines or bladders. Rubber condoms were also available but were made by wrapping raw material around special molds and vulcanizing them.

In 1912, Julius Fromm introduced a fundamentally new method for producing condoms. The molds were dipped into a specially diluted rubber solution containing benzene or gasoline. This new technique allowed for the production of much thinner and, more importantly, seam-free condoms. Fromm obtained a patent for his invention in 1916, and mass production began in 1922. The "Fromms Act," essentially the first branded condoms, became quite popular in a relatively short period of time. Fromm was able to open branches in Denmark, the United Kingdom, Poland, and the Netherlands. His last name even became a generic term for condoms in Germany.

In 1920, Julius became a naturalized citizen of Germany, and in 1928, his company installed the world's first condom vending machine. Interestingly, the Ministry of Interior Affairs only allowed condoms to be advertised as a means of preventing venereal diseases. Advertising them as contraceptives, according to officials, could negatively affect the already low birth rate. In 1938, the Nazi government forced Julius Fromm to sell his factories for a relatively insignificant sum of 116,000 Reichsmarks. The buyer was Baroness Elisabeth von Epenstein, the godmother of Hermann Göring, who gifted him two castles as a token of appreciation. A year later, Fromm moved to London, where he passed away on May 12, 1945.

His estate, worth approximately 30 million euros, was sold at an auction for 2,255 Reichsmarks on May 17, 1943, after being heavily looted. Fromm's factory in Köpenick was almost completely destroyed by Allied airstrikes, and the surviving equipment was taken to the Soviet Union. The factory in Friedrichshagen survived the war and supplied condoms to the Red Army for some time. According to the terms of the Potsdam Agreement, the factory was supposed to be returned to the Fromm family. However, the communists labeled Julius Fromm as a capitalist exploiter and collaborator with the Nazis, refusing to return his factories.

© BIOGRAPHS