Commemoration
&
Remembrance
Emigration

Lisbet (Liesbeth, Liese, Liesel) Auerbach

born on 12/04/1900 in Cologne
died on 03/16/1976 in New York

DGIM Member 1930 – 1933

Lisbeth Auerbach was influenced by her father's profession.1 Born in Solingen-Wald, Benjamin Auerbach (9/24/1855-11/18/1940) was a gynecologist and, from 1885, head physician at the Israelitisches Asyl für Kranke und Altersschwache (Israelite Asylum for the Sick and the Old and Infirm) in Cologne.2 He was a unique character in Cologne. He was out and about in the city on foot and was on first-name terms with everyone.3

Friend of Lilli Jahn

Lisbet Auerbach studied in Cologne, where she received her doctorate with the dissertation "Die Histopathologie der chronischen Encephalitis epidemica."4 After having received her license to practice medicine in 19255 she first worked as an assistant in the Internal Department of the Wenzel-Hancke Hospital in Breslau under Erich Frank, from where she also published.6 She returned to Cologne in 1931. She used the title "Fachärztin für Innere Medizin" (specialist for internal medicine) from March 15, 19317 and established her practice at Brüderstrasse 2.8 The physician Lilli Jahn – murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944 – was still part of her circle of friends. Lilli Jahn had worked at the Cologne Israelitisches Asyl on and off on a temporary basis from 1924 to 1926 and became known through Martin Doerry's biography, published in 2002.9

Emigration

Auerbach had already decided to emigrate in the summer of 1934. She first moved to London and was registered at 167 Goldhurst Terrace NW6.10She was issued a passport in Glasgow on June 5, 1934, with which she boarded the "SS Albert Ballin" in Southhampton on July 20, 1934. The ship took her to New York.11 She gave Edinburgh as her last place of residence in Great Britain upon entering the United States.12 Auerbach settled in New York (150 W. 87th Street) and applied for U.S. citizenship before the end of September 1934,13 which she received six years later.14 She was already a member of the American Medical Association15 and practicing in Manhattan by then.16

Her parents also emigrated to New York. Benjamin Auerbach left the Israelitisches Asyl in 1935 at the age of eighty. He and his wife Ida emigrated to London in 1939 and then to New York in 1940, where he died the same year.

Lisbeth Auerbach died in New York on March 16, 1976 at the age of 75.17

On November 4, 2024, a "Stolperstein" (stumbling stone) was laid in memory of Lisbeth Auerbach by the artist Gunter Demnig at the behest of the DGIM in Cologne's Brüderstrasse.


References

A very similar biography can be found in: Vina Zielonka/Ralf Forsbach/Hans-Georg Hofer/Ulrich R. Fölsch, Gegen das Vergessen: Jüdische Ärztinnen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Innere Medizin im Porträt, in: Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift 147 (2022), pp. 1596–1604, pp. 1599 f.See geschichte.charite.de, accessed 11/30/2019; Reichsmedizinalkalender 1931, p. 260.See Barbara Becker-Jákli, Das jüdische Krankenhaus in Köln. Die Geschichte des Israelitischen Asyls für Kranke und Altersschwache 1869 bis 1945, Köln 2004, p. 374 f.Lisbeth Auerbach, Die Histopathologie der chronischen Encephalitis epidemica, Diss. med. Köln 1924.See Reichsmedizinalkalender 1934, p. 274.See among others Lisbeth Auerbach/Béla Klein, Vergleichende Untersuchungen über die Wirksamkeit synthetischer Schilddrüsenpräparate, in: Klinische Wochenschrift 8 (1929), pp. 2332 f.; see the bibliography in: history.charite.de, accessed Nov. 30, 2019.See female physicians in the empire.See Reichsmedizinalkalender 1933, p. 274.See Martin Doerry, "Mein verwundetes Herz". Das Leben der Lilli Jahn 1900-1944, Stuttgart/Munich 2002, p. 40, p. 348 and pictorial part.See Yvonne Kapp, Refugee Doctors and Dentists registered with the Medical Department, 1939, 2A.4. Auerbach is listed here under the first name "Lise."Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897. Microfilm Publication M237, 675 rolls. NAI: 6256867. Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36. National Archives at Washington, D.C., P. 49.The National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, D.C.; Petitions for Naturalization from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1897-1944; Series: M1972; Roll: 1246, p. 128.The National Archives and Records Administration; Washington, D.C.; Petitions for Naturalization from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1897-1944, Series: M1972, Roll: 1246, No. 35667.The National Archives at New York City. Index to Petitions for Naturalization filed in New York City, 1792-1989, Petition No. 348616/1940; Roll No. 4774910.See Obituaries, in Journal of the American Medical Association, 240 (1978), p. 1284.National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, 1940 Census, Enumeration District 31-537, p. 10A.See history.charite.de, accessed Nov. 30, 2019

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