The Jewish Pathologist Carl Julius Rothberger (1871–1945) and the gradual deprivation of his rights in the Third Reich

Publication date: Available online 7 October 2019Source: Pathology - Research and PracticeAuthor(s): Dominik Gross, Christina LaursAbstractThe Jewish pathologist Carl Julius Rothberger (1871–1945) is undoubtedly one of the most important representatives of his field. His studies on atrial fibrillation, the bundle branch block and arrhythmia perpetua in particular secured him a place in medical history. Rothberger also gave the name to an agar used to prove the neutral red reduction of salmonella (Rothberger-Scheffler agar).While Rothberger’s name is well known in pathology, his biography and his experiences of stigmatization as a Jewish university lecturer have received little attention. The latter are therefore the focus of this paper. Three central research questions need to be answered: What effect did Rothberger's Jewish origins have on his personal life and on his career at the University of Vienna in the first third of the 20th century? What personal changes resulted from the “Anschluss” (“annexation”) of Austria to the German Reich (1938) and the assumption of power by the National Socialists? And finally, what role does Rothberger play in the collective memory of the city of Vienna today – does a kind of public memory exist?The current work is based on extensive primary sources from the Archives of the University of Vienna, the manuscript collection of the Archives of the Medical Faculty there and the Austrian State Archives. Some of these primary source...
Source: Pathology Research and Practice - Category: Pathology Source Type: research