Herta Ruth Selbiger

"Dear colleague,
I hereby inform you that your doctorate was awarded at the faculty meeting on 9 February 1938, for which I congratulate you. I have commissioned the university to prepare your doctoral diploma.^"1

Herta Ruth Selbiger received this long-awaited news, unlike so many non-Aryan German students during the National Socialist regime. However, she was supposed to write her doctoral thesis in medicine at the University of Bern in Switzerland, as she was not allowed to do her doctorate at her home university in Berlin for "racial" reasons.

The short curriculum vitae that Herta Ruth Selbiger included with her dissertation tells us very little about this woman's life. With the help of various sources, we were able to find out several details about her story, which do not necessarily form a seamless continuity.

Herta Ruth Selbiger was born in Berlin on 24 September 1910. Her father, Georg Selbiger, was a merchant who was born in the district of Schlochau in West Prussia. Her mother Erna (née Lasker) also came from West Prussia, from the town of Lessen^.2 The couple had two children: Herta and Herbert (born in 1913)^.3

Herta Selbiger attended the "2. M?dchen-Mittel-Schule" from April 1917 to April 1918, then the "1. Lyzeum Neuk?lln" until 1923 and graduated from the "1. St?dtische Studienanstalt" in April 1930. In the summer semester of 1930, she began her medical studies at the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin, where she studied until the winter semester of 1935/1936^.4 During this time, she passed the state medical examination, but was not allowed to continue her studies until her doctorate "for racial reasons"^.5

As it was forbidden for her to practise as a doctor in Germany, Herta Selbiger passed her nursing exams in Berlin and worked in various departments of the Jewish Hospital Berlin from 1937^.6

In 1937, she enrolled at the University of Bern, where she passed her medical examinations and wrote her doctoral thesis entitled "Contribution to the surgery of the pancreas with special consideration of the disorder of its internal and external secretion" under the supervision of her doctoral supervisor, the well-known Professor de Quervain^.7 In his review of the thesis, Professor de Quervain wrote that the dissertation was "less fundamental than casuistic in character, but contains some interesting and worthwhile information", and stated that a "more thorough treatment" of some parts could not be carried out, mainly due to the "current political situation of non-Aryan doctoral students in Germany"^.8

After completing her doctorate, Herta Selbiger continued to work at the Jewish Hospital. After the war, her brother, who survived, collected several references describing her as an outstanding employee. "She did the laboratory work with diligence and conscientiousness"^,9 was reported by the department for lung patients. "I can attest to the fact that Dr S. carried out the care assigned to her with great conscientiousness and understanding [...] I can highly recommend her," wrote the head of the obstetrics and gynaecology department^.10

She always showed understanding and human participation in dealing with the patients, whose wishes she always endeavoured to fulfil [...] A particularly strong sense of responsibility, as well as the ability to adapt and adaptability make her a valuable force for every hospital and everywhere in nursing, such as the tuberculosis department.^"11

At the end of the 1930s, her brother and his wife emigrated to Brazil via Belgium^,12 but Herta Selbiger stayed with her parents in their flat at Weichselstra?e 65 in Neuk?lln. She received an order to evacuate the flat, requiring her to appear at Oranienburger Stra?e 31 on 20 November 1941 "to avoid harsher measures "¹³. In the declaration of assets that she had to fill in when the flat was evacuated, she noted her doctor's cabinet, her doctor's filing cabinet and various medical instruments, as well as other personal belongings^.14

Herta Ruth Selbiger was deported from Berlin to Riga together with her parents on 5 September 1942. All three were murdered three days later^.15

"Bern! After completing my matriculation, I respectfully request to be admitted to the doctorate.
With the highest consideration"
Herta Ruth Selbiger