Ben Reitman

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Ben Reitman (photographed between 1910 and 1915).

Ben Reitman (full name: Ben Lewis Reitman ) (born January 1, 1879 in Saint Paul , Minnesota , † November 16, 1942 in Chicago ) was an American doctor and social reformer . He became known as a hobo doctor , anarchist , lover of Emma Goldmann, and a pioneer in the prevention of venereal diseases .

Life

Ben Reitman was one of two sons of a couple of Russian emigrants. The father, who had peddled haberdashery , left the family early. After a few stopovers, the mother, Ida Reitman, moved to Chicago with the children. At the time, Ben was four years old. He spent his formative years in the city's slums, where he was already earning money as a child, for example running errands for prostitutes and pimps . At the age of ten he left school and for some time traveled around the country as a hobo on freight trains. On his return he found work as a helper in a medical laboratory . From 1900 to 1904 he attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons and finished his studies with admission as a doctor. He had married while studying and had a daughter. In 1905 he got divorced.

As a doctor in Chicago, Reitman mainly treated hobos, prostitutes and other marginalized people , and he also performed illegal abortions . In 1907 he opened a hobo college next to his practice . The college was a gathering place where hobos could get free meals and tips on where to stay and where they could share. There were also lectures on history, philosophy and literature. Some of the lecturers came from the Sociology Department of the University of Chicago , and they also used the contacts to conduct research for their studies. Works by Alfred Ray Lindesmith on drug addicts and Edwin H. Sutherland on professional crime are believed to have originated in Hobo College .

Emma Goldman , 1911

In 1908 Reitman made the rooms of Hobo College available for an event by Emma Goldman , who had given up hope of being able to speak in Chicago due to opposition from official bodies. The contact with her turned into a love affair lasting several years, which finally broke up due to Reitman's infidelity. Until 1916 Reitman organized Goldman's lecture tours. The couple were arrested in 1916 while campaigning for birth control. Public discussions about sexuality and contraception were prohibited. Reitman served six months in prison. Shortly before the start of his detention, he remarried and his son was born while he was in prison.

After his release from prison, he returned to Chicago and practiced as a doctor again. He also worked for the city health department . In 1924 he founded a venereal disease treatment clinic in Cook County Jail , the largest detention facility in the United States. During the 1930s he became director of the Chicago Society for the Prevention of Venereal Disease ( Chicago Society for Prevention of sexually transmitted diseases ).

After the death of his second wife, Reitman married for the third time in 1930. The couple had four daughters.

Fonts (selection)

  • Sister of the road. The autobiography of Boxcar Bertha , 1937 reissue, Nabat, New Edinburg, Arkansas, 2002, ISBN 978-1-902593-03-6 .
  • The second oldest profession , reprint of 1931 edition, Garland Publications, New York 1987, ISBN 0-8240-7671-0 .

literature

  • Frank O. Beck: Hobohemia. Emma Goldman, Lucy Parsons, Ben Reitman & Other Agitators & Outsiders In 1920s / 30s Chicago , Charles Kerr, Chicago 2000.
  • Roger A. Bruns: The Damndest Radical: The Life and World of Ben Reitman, Chicago's Celebrated Social Reformer, Hobo King, and Whorehouse Physician . University of Illinois Press, Urbana 1987.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Roger A. Bruns: The Damndest Radical: The Life and World of Ben Reitman, Chicago's Celebrated Social Reformer, Hobo King, and Whorehouse Physician . University of Illinois Press, Urbana 1987, p. 3.
  2. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, the biographical information is based on: Ben Lewis Reitman Papers. An inventory of the collection at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Biographical Sketch ( Memento from November 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ The information on the Hobo College is based on: Rolf Lindner , The discovery of the city culture. Sociology from the experience of reporting. New edition, Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1990, p. 165 f.
  4. ↑ Emma Goldman : Lived Life. Autobiography. Edition Nautilus , Hamburg 2010, p. 385.
personal data
SURNAME Reitman, Ben
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Reitman, Ben Lewis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American doctor and social reformer
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Saint Paul , Minnesota , United States
DATE OF DEATH November 16, 1942
Place of death Chicago , Illinois , United States