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The Jewish Pathologist Carl Julius Rothberger (1871–1945) and the Gradual ⋆ Deprivation of His Rights in the Third Reich T

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The Jewish Pathologist Carl Julius Rothberger (1871–1945) and the Gradual ⋆ Deprivation of His Rights in the Third Reich T Pathology - Research and Practice 215 (2019) 152679 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Pathology - Research and Practice journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/prp The Jewish Pathologist Carl Julius Rothberger (1871–1945) and the gradual ⋆ deprivation of his rights in the Third Reich T Dominik Gross⁎, Christina Laurs Institute for History, Theory and Ethics of Medicine, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, 52074, Aachen, Germany ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: The Jewish pathologist Carl Julius Rothberger (1871–1945) is undoubtedly one of the most important re- Experimental pathology presentatives of his field. His studies on atrial fibrillation, the bundle branch block and arrhythmia perpetua in Disenfranchisement particular secured him a place in medical history. Rothberger also gave the name to an agar used to prove the National Socialism neutral red reduction of salmonella (Rothberger-Scheffler agar). Third Reich While Rothberger’s name is well known in pathology, his biography and his experiences of stigmatization as a Austria Jewish university lecturer have received little attention. The latter are therefore the focus of this paper. Three Political repression 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 sources have been evaluated for the first time. They have been supplemented by contemporary news- paper articles and the relevant secondary literature. Although Rothberger grew up in a largely assimilated upper middle-class family in which religious practice hardly played a role, he was exposed to considerable anti-Semitic and repressive actions, especially from the 1920s onwards. However, these repressions only become apparent at second glance. Stages of increasing rights deprivation included (1) Rothberger's frustratingly unsuccessful applications for the Chair of General and Experimental Pathology, which had been vacant since 1924, (2) his forced early retirement (1936/37), (3) an exclusion order against him along with temporary imprisonment after the “annexation” (1938), and (4) the final closure of the institute which he had helped develop and shape over decades (1942). An active public debate on the victims of National Socialism has been taking place in Vienna and at its university since the turn of the millennium. In this context, Carl Julius Rothberger was officially commemorated at a ceremony in 2010 – a late attempt to rescue him and his work from collective oblivion. 1. Introduction and the bundle branch block are still viewed as reference points in the field [2–4]. Rothberger furthermore gave his name to an agar he de- The current article looks at the life and career of Jewish experi- veloped for proving the neutral red reduction of salmonella. The pro- mental pathologist Carl Julius Rothberger (1871–1945) [1]. His name cess was later modified by Scheffler (Rothberger-Scheffler agar) [5,6]. has a firm place not only in the history of pathology, but also in the Carl Julius Rothberger (Fig. 1;[7]) appeared to face a rosy future on general history of medicine. Seen retrospectively, Rothberger’s research his birth in Vienna on October 14, 1871. His father Jacob Rothberger on pathological electrocardiograms and the pathophysiology of the (1825–1899) had already achieved a considerable level of prosperity at circulatory system can be regarded as both groundbreaking and in- that time. He had emigrated from the Hungarian city of Albertirsa to novative. Above all his works on atrial fibrillation, arrhythmia perpetua Vienna in the 1840s following an interim period as a journeyman in ⋆ This paper has been written as part of the DGP-funded research project on the “Role of Pathology and its Representatives in the Third Reich”. In addition to financial support, the project aims to bring the victims of National Socialism back into the collective memory. ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (D. Gross). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prp.2019.152679 Received 29 August 2019; Received in revised form 1 October 2019; Accepted 2 October 2019 0344-0338/ © 2019 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. D. Gross and C. Laurs Pathology - Research and Practice 215 (2019) 152679 (Palace of Archduke Albrecht). Like his brothers, Carl Julius Rothberger was given the opportunity to attend a Gymnasium (secondary school). Following his Matura (school leaving examination) he decided to take up studies in medicine at the University of Vienna, which he pursued from 1891 to 1897 [16]. His brothers Heinrich, Moritz and Alfred joined the family company as tailors or businessmen while Carl Julius embarked on a scientific career [17]. Education and economic independence were important elements of Jewish self-perception and the Rothberger family was no exception here [18]. The proportion of Jewish students at the University of Vienna in the period between 1897/1898 and the First World War was an astonishing 25% of the total number of students [19]. The propor- tion of Jewish students in Rothberger’s subject of medicine was even higher, running to more than 45% in the 1890s [20]. Rothberger’s completion of his medical studies with the doctoral degree of Dr. med. in July 1897 was followed by a phase of professional orientation, at times as a visiting physician, at times performing active work [21]. He started his professional career in the Bakteriologisches Laboratorium (Bacteriological Laboratory) of the k.k. Militär-Sanitäts- Comité, (Military Medical Committee of the Imperial and Royal Court), changing six months later to the Bakteriologisches Laboratorium at the Pathologisch-Bakteriologisches Institut (Institute of Pathology and Bac- teriology) at Krankenanstalt Rudolfstiftung (Hospital of the Rudolf Foundation) [16]. Here he worked under Richard Paltauf, who was head of the department of pathology and whose scientific work focused predominantly on pathological histology. Paltauf’s introduction of bacteriology and serology and his further development of these fields gave rise to the “blossoming of Viennese experimental medicine” [22] at that time. After a period as a visiting physician at the Erste Medizi- nische Universitätsklinik (First Medical University of Vienna), Rothberger changed to the Institut für Allgemeine und Experimentelle Pathologie (In- stitute for General and Experimental Pathology) at the University of Vienna in autumn of 1899, thereafter devoting himself to (experi- Fig. 1. Carl Julius Rothberger, portrait (1927, Photo Fayer-Wien 1927), Picture mental) pathological research [16]. archive Austria, Austrian National Library (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Rothberger met Paltauf again at the aforementioned institute not ÖNB, No. Pb 580.555-F 465) [7]. long afterwards, as the latter had been appointed to the corresponding chair there and had consequently taken over direction of the institute Paris [8]. Rothberger’s mother Rosalie (1829–1914), whom Jacob [23]. Rothberger began his career at the institute as a demonstrator Rothberger had married in 1855, was similarly from Hungary and like before being deployed from 1901 as an unpaid assistant in the areas of her husband of Jewish origin [9]. A large number of further Jews im- teaching and research [24]. In 1903, Paltauf managed to arrange a migrated to Vienna in the following decades. The Austrian “Staats- research position for Rothberger with Ivan Petrovich Pavlov in St. Pe- grundgesetz” (“Basic State Law”) of 1867 granted every inhabitant of tersburg [25–27]. Pavlov, a world-famous physiologist and subsequent Austria all civil and political rights, irrespective of creed. This legal Nobel Prize winner, was director of the Institute for Experimental development attracted Jews from Eastern Europe in particular [10]. Medicine there, which was supplied with particularly modern equip- The Jewish proportion of the Viennese population thus increased to ment [28]. Rothberger’s period at the institute provided him with nu- such an extent that the Jewish community there became the largest merous ideas for his specialist area and in relation to architectural German-speaking one and the third biggest in Europe in the years up to layout – the latter would find their way into the upcoming renewal and 1900 [11]. expansion of the institute in Vienna after his return [29,30]. In De- Jacob Rothberger opened a “clothes shop” in Vienna, where he cember 1904, Rothberger submitted an application – with Richard produced and sold both made-to-measure and ready-to-wear clothing Paltauf‘s approval – to undertake his habilitation in the subject of [12]. This was the beginning of a brilliant entrepreneurial career. Jacob “General and Experimental Pathology” and was given the position of Rothberger became a k.u.k. Hoflieferant (Purveyor to the Imperial and Privatdozent (Docent) from 1905 [31]. Royal Court) in 1867, a development which increased his social A further step in his academic career was his appointment as an standing
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