Berta Ottenstein: the career of a German-Jewish dermatologist after 1933

Berta Ottenstein, a German-Jewish dermatologist held PhDs in chemistry (1913) and in medicine (1919) from the University of Nuremberg as well as a Habilitation in dermatology (1931) from the University of Freiburg. She was the first woman in Freiburg and the first woman in dermatology to earn this highest academic qualification, which is required in many continental European universities to conduct self-contained university teaching, and to obtain a professorship. After her dismissal from the University of Freiburg, she first migrated to Hungary, later to Turkey, and finally to the US. As a dermatologist, she was very well respected and a ground-breaking researcher, but as a woman she had to overcome many obstacles; as a Jew she was expelled and discriminated against in her own country. Without her professional network, which was based on her scientific excellence as well as on her ability to build friendships in all the many places she lived, she would have not been able to continue her career in exile.

Bildquelle: Universitätsarchiv Freiburg D001301393

The visualization shows Berta Ottenstein's personal network.

Notes on visualization:
If you move the mouse over the individual nodes, the meaning of the nodes pops up. The nodes can also be moved around. The following reading example should help you to read the visualization: We are looking at the blue node labeled "Istanbul University". The green nodes connected to the blue node show which people (red nodes) worked professionally at Istanbul University. The yellow nodes connected to the persons (red nodes) show the personal relationships with other persons. So you can see that Berta Ottenstein, who worked at the University of Istanbul, was friends with Alfred Heilbronn, who also worked at the same University. The same picture can be seen with Berta Ottenstein and Philipp Schwartz. On the other hand, it also appears that Friedrich Dessauer, for example, was also active at the University of Istanbul, but has no personal relationship with Berta Ottenstein (according to current knowledge). On the other hand, the visualization shows that Philipp Schwartz had a role in the employment relationship Friedrich Dessauer-University of Istanbul.

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