Elisabeth Winterhalter

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Elisabeth Winterhalter, portrait by Ottilie Roederstein , 1918

Elisabeth Hermine Winterhalter (born December 17, 1856 in Munich ; † February 13, 1952 in Hofheim am Taunus ) was a German gynecologist , surgeon , women's rights activist and art patron.

She was one of the first female doctors and the first female surgeon in Germany. With her partner, the painter Ottilie Roederstein , she promoted art and the education of women.

childhood

Winterhalter was the thirteenth and youngest child of Georg Winterhalter and Elisabeth Winterhalter, b. by Garr. Her father died when she was 11 years old.

Like her great-grandfather, grandfather, father and oldest brother, she wanted to become a doctor. The family did not support her career aspiration for many years. Instead, after the girls' boarding school at Kloster Beuerberg, she first attended a seminar for women teachers and took a position as an assistant teacher in Schwabing .

Studied in Switzerland

Elisabeth Winterhalter, portrait by Ottilie Roederstein, 1887

In 1884, however, mother and her assigned guardian agreed to study medicine . Since women were not allowed to study in the German Empire , she enrolled instead in Switzerland at the University of Zurich and the University of Bern . In addition to her studies, she also passed the Swiss Matura in 1885 .

Through her friends and fellow students Anna Kuhnow , Clara Willdenow and Agnes Bluhm , Winterhalter met the painter Ottilie Roederstein in the summer of 1885 . Roederstein lived as a commissioned portraitist in Paris and regularly spent her summer holidays in Zurich with her parents. From 1887 onwards one can speak of a love affair.

In 1886 Winterhalter passed her physics course and in 1889 her state examination in Switzerland. She interned in surgical clinics in Paris and Munich and learned gynecological massage with Thure Brandt in Stockholm . In 1890 she did her doctorate in Zurich and practiced there as a doctor.

Move to Frankfurt

In 1891 Elisabeth Winterhalter and Ottilie Roederstein moved to Frankfurt am Main for professional opportunities . Roederstein was able to win many customers in Frankfurt's citizenship and opened a studio at Hochstraße 40 and later in the Städelsche Kunstschule .

Winterhalter had the opportunity to found the first gynecological outpatient clinic at the Maingau Sisterhood . Although she was unable to obtain a license to practice medicine in Germany , she was soon regarded as a renowned doctor for gynecology and obstetrics . In 1895 she was the first female surgeon in Germany to perform an abdominal incision .

She did research with Ludwig Edinger at the Dr. Senckenberg Institute for Pathology under Prof. Carl Weigert and published an article in 1896 about the discovery of the ganglion cell of the ovary .

In 1902 women in Germany were allowed to study medicine. Therefore, at the age of 47, she took the Physikum in 1903 and the state examination and license to practice medicine in Germany in 1903/04.

Commitment to women's rights

As modern, independent women, Elisabeth Winterhalter and Ottilie Roederstein were perfectly integrated into Frankfurt's urban society. They showed their love affair publicly and campaigned for the education of women.

In 1898, Winterhalter founded a local branch of the Association for Women's Education - Women's Studies , and later she became the second chairwoman of the entire association. Following the example of Helene Lange , the association opened the first Frankfurt girls' high school in 1901 . These courses were initially financed with private donations and later attached to the newly opened Schiller School .

In 1900 she briefly took part in the “Morality Commission” of the Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine , which, among other things, examined the spread of venereal diseases, especially in cities. From 1903 she was also a member of the German Society for Combating Venereal Diseases (DGBG) .

Retirement in Hofheim

In 1907 Winterhalter and Roederstein bought a plot of land on Kapellenberg in Hofheim im Taunus . In 1909 they were able to move into a villa built there by the Frankfurt architect Hermann AE Kopf . Winterhalter continued to practice until she had to resign from her job in 1911 for health reasons. From then on she devoted herself to gardening, managing household and finances and supporting the artistic work of her partner.

In Hofheim she founded a city ​​library and a people's education association and supported voluntary charitable causes. For this she received honorary citizenship of the city of Hofheim together with Roederstein in 1929 .

During the time of National Socialism , their Jewish and liberal environment was exposed to severe repression. The two women remained unmolested, but increasingly withdrew.

Ottilie Roederstein died in 1937 of a fit of weakness. After her death, Winterhalter managed her artistic legacy and the joint Roederstein-Winterhalter Foundation .

On her 95th birthday, she was honored by Federal President Theodor Heuss for her pioneering work in opening up medical professions to women. Two months later, on February 13, 1952, Elisabeth Winterhalter died.

The doctor and the artist are buried in a grave of honor in the Hofheim forest cemetery. Elisabeth-Winterhalter-Strasse in the Frankfurt district of Niederursel and Ottilie-Roederstein-Platz in Hattersheim are named after them.

Fonts

  • On the development of vaginal urinary fistulas with special consideration of cases caused by birth trauma , dissertation, Zurich 1890.
  • A sympathetic ganglion in the human ovary together with remarks on the theory of the occurrence of ovulation and menstruation , in: Archiv für Gynäkologie 51 (1896), pp. 49-55.
  • Elisabeth H. Winterhalter (autobiographical article), in: Elga Kern (Hrsg.): Leading women in Europe . In 25 self-descriptions. New episode. Munich: E. Reinhardt, 1930, pp. 30-36.

literature

  • German Biographical Encyclopedia
  • Barbara Rök: Ottilie W. Roederstein (1859–1937). An artist between tradition and modernity, Marburg 1999.
  • Karin Görner: Ottilie W. Roederstein and Elisabeth Winterhalter. Frankfurt years 1891–1909. Edited by Dagmar Priepke, Heussenstamm Foundation, Frankfurt am Main 2018.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c women doctors in the empire. Institute for the History of Medicine and Ethics in Medicine at the Charité, accessed on July 15, 2020 .
  2. ^ Richard P. Tucker: Elisabeth H. Winterhalter (1856–1952): The Pioneer and her Eponymous Ovarian Ganglion . In: Journal of the History of the Neurosciences . tape 22 , no. 2 , April 2013, ISSN  0964-704X , p. 192 , doi : 10.1080 / 15332845.2012.728422 .
  3. ↑ Priepke, Dagmar editor. Görner, Karin Author: Ottilie W. Roederstein and Elisabeth Winterhalter Frankfurt years 1891-1909 . OCLC 1057632904 , p. 9 .
  4. ↑ Ursula Kern: Frankfurter Frauenzimmer - Biographies. Retrieved July 15, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Elisabeth H. Winterhalter: A sympathetic ganglion in the human ovary . In: Archives for Gynecology . tape 51 , no. 1 , February 1896, ISSN  0003-9128 , p. 49-55 , doi : 10.1007 / bf01973397 .
  6. ↑ Priepke, Dagmar editor. Görner, Karin Author: Ottilie W. Roederstein and Elisabeth Winterhalter Frankfurt years 1891-1909 . OCLC 1057632904 , p. 18-19 .
  7. ↑ Priepke, Dagmar editor. Görner, Karin Author: Ottilie W. Roederstein and Elisabeth Winterhalter Frankfurt years 1891-1909 . OCLC 1057632904 , p. 20 .
  8. ↑ Priepke, Dagmar editor. Görner, Karin Author: Ottilie W. Roederstein and Elisabeth Winterhalter Frankfurt years 1891-1909 . OCLC 1057632904 , p. 22-23 .
  9. ↑ Priepke, Dagmar editor. Görner, Karin Author: Ottilie W. Roederstein and Elisabeth Winterhalter Frankfurt years 1891-1909 . OCLC 1057632904 , p. 24-25 .
  10. ↑ Priepke, Dagmar editor. Görner, Karin Author: Ottilie W. Roederstein and Elisabeth Winterhalter Frankfurt years 1891-1909 . OCLC 1057632904 , p. 29 .
  11. ↑ Priepke, Dagmar editor. Görner, Karin Author: Ottilie W. Roederstein and Elisabeth Winterhalter Frankfurt years 1891-1909 . OCLC 1057632904 , p. 30 .
  12. ↑ Priepke, Dagmar editor. Görner, Karin Author: Ottilie W. Roederstein and Elisabeth Winterhalter Frankfurt years 1891-1909 . OCLC 1057632904 , p. 30-31 .
  13. ↑ Priepke, Dagmar editor. Görner, Karin Author: Ottilie W. Roederstein and Elisabeth Winterhalter Frankfurt years 1891-1909 . OCLC 1057632904 , p. 32 .
personal data
SURNAME Winterhalter, Elisabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Winterhalter, Elisabeth Hermine (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION first female surgeon
DATE OF BIRTH December 17, 1856
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH February 13, 1952
Place of death Hofheim am Taunus