Emilie Lehmus

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Memorial plaque on the house at Alte Schönhauser Straße 23/24

Emilie Lehmus (born August 30, 1841 in Fürth , Kingdom of Bavaria ; † October 17, 1932 in Graefenberg , district of Forchheim ) was the first German medical student in Zurich and the first female doctor in Berlin .

Life

Lecture at the Berlin Housewives Association ( Deutscher Reichsanzeiger No. 253 of 1876)

The daughter of the pastor Friedrich Theodor Eduard Lehmus began studying medicine in Zurich after completing a teacher training seminar and language studies in Paris. After completing her doctorate with distinction and doing an internship at Winckel in Prague, she presumably settled in Berlin in 1876 and, in addition to her private practice, from 1877 with fellow student Franziska Tiburtius ran a "Polyclinic of female doctors for women and children" at Alte Schönhauser Strasse 23 in Berlin- Middle . In 1881 the two founded the “nursing home for women”, which was later expanded into a modern surgical clinic and mainly offered young women doctors training and further education opportunities. Around 1900 she was forced to give up the practice due to her own illness with influenza pneumonia. When the Association of Female Doctors was founded in 1908, Lehmus supported this initiative with a monetary donation of 16,000 Reichsmarks.

After giving up her practice, she lived in Munich for several years and after the First World War with her sister in Graefenberg near Erlangen. She worked musically as a pianist. On October 18, 1932, she was buried in the municipal cemetery in Fürth, Erlanger Strasse 97.

The Berlin mathematician Ludolph Lehmus (1780–1863) was her great-uncle.

meaning

Memorial stone for Emilie Lehmus on the municipal cemetery in Fürth, Aug. 2019

Emilie Lehmus was initially refused recognition of medical training in Germany because of her gender. She was equated with bathers and alternative practitioners, although she had completed her studies exceptionally well: “Miss Emilie Lehmus from Fürth, the first German lady to study medicine in Zurich, took her exam there last week and received the distinction. Only six male examiners have been awarded this degree in the last ten years ”(Kölner Zeitung 1874).

In Emilie Lehmus' time, the German Reichstag laughed at female doctors and she herself complained: “The most hateful thing was Virchow ” about the rejection by the Berlin medical community. On the occasion of her 100th birthday, she was honored for her performance and pioneering role by the German doctors in an obituary.

On June 18, 2006, a memorial plaque for Emilie Lehmus and Franziska Tiburtius was placed on the building at Alte Schönhauser Allee 23, where they opened the polyclinic for female doctors in 1877.

On August 30, 2019, a memorial event in honor of Emilie Lehmus took place at the former grave site at the municipal cemetery in Fürth . The grave had been abandoned many years ago, so nothing on the spot reminded of her. With the support of the German Society for Gynecology and Obstetrics (DGGG) and the City of Fürth, the memorial stone was erected in the cemetery in August 2019. Guest speakers were the President of the DGGG, Anton Scharl , the chief physician of the women's clinic at the Fürth Clinic, Volker Hanf, and the Lord Mayor of the City of Fürth , Thomas Jung . The event was initiated by the former pastor of the parish of St. Peter and Paul in Poppenreuth , Christian Schmidt-Scheer. The person depicted on the memorial stone does not represent Emilie Lehmus, but the Fürtherin Christel Schuirer (1918–1944), who died young and whose grave was also abandoned a few decades ago. However, Schuirer's tombstone has been preserved and has now been rededicated for the new purpose.

Web links

Commons : Emilie Lehmus  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Schnoepf: Emilie Lehmus. In: Documentation: Doctors in the Empire. Free University of Berlin, October 4, 2011, accessed on February 3, 2013 .
  2. ^ Correspondent from and for Germany of December 24, 1874.
  3. Karin Franzke: Samantha wants to become a doctor. In: Hamburger Abendblatt. January 2, 2007, accessed February 3, 2013 .
  4. ^ R. Bornemann (Ed.): First female doctors. The examples of the “Fräulein Doctores” Emilie Lehmus (1841–1932) and Franziska Tiburtius (1843–1927) - biographical and autobiographical. In: E. Brinkschulte: Female Doctors. The implementation of a job description in Germany. Edition Hentrich, Berlin 1993, pp. 24-32.
  5. ^ Antonius Lux (ed.): Great women of world history. A thousand biographies in words and pictures. Sebastian Lux Verlag , Munich 1963, p. 288.
  6. ^ SK: Forgotten Biographies (31) . In: Association for accompanying public discussions in the inner city districts e. V. (Ed.): Scheinschlag . May 2004 ( Scheinschlag.de [accessed on February 3, 2013]).
  7. Sebastian Müller: Medical pioneer: Fürth sets a monument to Emilie Lehmus . In: Fürther Nachrichten of September 1, 2019 - available online