Lucie Adelsberger (12 April 1895 – 2 November 1971) was a

German Jew The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

ish physician who was imprisoned during the Second World War at

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

and

Ravensbrück concentration camp Ravensbrück () was a German concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure o ...

s, where she provided medical care to other prisoners. She specialised in

immunology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see there ...

Early life and career

Adelsberger was born on 12 April 1895 in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

. After studying medicine at

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative d ...

, she began practicing in 1920 and moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

neighbourhood in 1925, where she practiced in internal medicine and

paediatrics Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

, specialising in

and

allergy Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic derma ...

. In 1927, she joined a

serological Serology is the scientific study of serum and other body fluids. In practice, the term usually refers to the diagnostic identification of antibodies in the serum. Such antibodies are typically formed in response to an infection (against a given mi ...

research group at the

Robert Koch Institute The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is a German federal government agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention. It is located in Berlin and Wernigerode. As an upper federal agency, it is subordinate to the Federal ...

, but she was dismissed in 1933 due to the introduction of anti-Semitic laws. She was stripped of her medical license in 1938.

Concentration camps

Adelsberger was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp from Berlin on 17 May 1943. There, she provided medical care in the camp's infirmary, in particular to prisoners suffering from

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

. She also performed many

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

s, since pregnancy was forbidden in the camp, and if a baby was born alive it would be killed. Adelsberger collected poison to use for these

feticide Foeticide (British English), or feticide (American and Canadian English), is the act of killing a fetus, or causing a miscarriage. Etymology Foeticide derives from two constituent Latin roots. ''Foetus'', meaning child, is an alternate form of ...

s, and when it ran out some mothers strangled or drowned their newborns. Adelsberger was later transferred to Ravensbrück, and was liberated on 2 May 1945.

Later life

Adelsberger emigrated to the United States in 1946, and resumed practicing medicine in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, where she eventually died on 2 November 1971. She published a memoir about her time in Auschwitz in 1956; it was translated into English in 1995.

Literature

Hermann Langbein Hermann Langbein (18 May 1912 – 24 October 1995) was an Austrian communist resistance fighter and historian. He fought in the Spanish Civil War with the International Brigades for the Spanish Republicans against the Nationalists under Francis ...

: ''Menschen in Auschwitz''. Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Nürnberg 1980, . * Eduard Seidler: ''Jewish Pediatricians: Victims of Persecution 1933–1945'', S. Karger Basel New York 2007, . * ''Gedenkbuch Berlins der jüdischen Opfer des Nationalsozialismus'', 1995, S. 19. *

Leo Baeck Institute The Leo Baeck Institute, established in 1955, is an international research institute with centres in New York City, London, and Jerusalem that are devoted to the study of the history and culture of German-speaking Jewry. Baeck was its first intern ...

: AR 10089, collection Lucie Adelsberger * Kurtz, Benjamin: ''Lucie Adelsberger: Ärztin – Wissenschaftlerin – Chronistin von Auschwitz'', Hentrich & Hentrich, Leipzig 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adelsberger, Lucie 1895 births 1971 deaths German internists German immunologists German pediatricians Women pediatricians 20th-century German physicians German women physicians Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Ravensbrück concentration camp survivors Emigrants from occupied Germany (1945-1949) to the United States 20th-century German Jews Physicians from Nuremberg 20th-century physicians 20th-century women physicians 20th-century German women

Early life and career

Concentration camps

Later life

Literature

See also

References