Karoline Breitinger

The house in which Karoline Breitinger had her practice

Karoline Breitinger (born May 4, 1851 in Künzelsau ; † September 6, 1932 in Esslingen ) was the first female doctor in Württemberg .

Karoline Breitinger grew up as the youngest of seven siblings and lost her mother at an early age. From 1871 she lived with one of her brothers in Salzburg . From 1881 to 1886 she trained as an elementary and community school teacher at the pedagogy in Linz ; In 1886 she also obtained a primary school teacher diploma in Markgröningen . From the summer semester of 1889, she first studied medicine in Zurich . Since her substitute examination was not recognized as a Matura certificate here, she later moved to Bern , where she did her doctorate with a thesis on the causes and prevention of child murder. Karoline Breitinger was not allowed to settle down as a doctor in Heidelberg or Tübingen; she then went to Esslingen. Here, too, she was only allowed to practice with reference to the foreign origin of her doctoral degree and without prescribing medication. Since this made her work very difficult, she continued to apply for a German license to practice medicine. The attempt to gain admission to the state examination in Tübingen , however, failed due to stubborn resistance from the university. Even a petition to the state parliament, which was accompanied by the signatures of 1,400 women from Esslingen, did not help her. Only a change in the examination regulations in 1905, after which Realgymnasium graduates were also admitted to study medicine, helped her further. Now she studied again in Strasbourg , finally got her license to practice medicine in 1909, worked at various hospitals until 1911 and then settled again in Esslingen, where she continued her practice for twenty years.

aftermath

A sign at the house on Kupfergasse 7, where Karoline Breitinger had her practice, contains her short biography. Breitingerstrasse in Hegensberg and Künzelsau are named after Karoline Breitinger. The home economics school in Künzelsau has been known as the Karoline Breitinger School since September 2008.

Web links

• Biography (PDF file; 17 kB)