Ernestine Rosner (verh. Rosenberg)
| Born: |
05-01-1912 |
| Faculty: |
Medical School | Medical University Vienna |
| Category: |
Expelled student |
Ernestine ROSNER (married ROSENBERG), born on May 1
st, 1912 in Radautz, Bukowina/Austro-Hungarian Empire [Rădăuți/Romania] (entitled residency ("heimatberechtigt") for Vienna/Austria, Citizenship: Austria), daughter of Herman Michael Tzvi Rosner (1883–1971, merchant) and Rachel Rosner, née Goldschlaeger (1886–1973), lived in Vienna's 8
th district, Josefsgasse 7/4, was enrolled finally in the fall term 1937/38 at the Medical School in the 5
th and last year of her studies ("Absolutorium" was issued on November 3
rd, 1938).
In 1938 she was forced to quit her studies and to leave the University of Vienna for racist reason after the takeover of power of National-Socialism. But after numerous uncertainties she could finally finish her studies and graduated on October 31
st, 1938, but only with the discriminating ceremony of a "Nichtarierpromotion", which included at the same time that she was banned from her profession in all Nazi ruled territories.
Between her last enrollment and her graduation, Ernestine Rosner had married her fellow student Hans (August) ROSENBERG M.D. (1908-1982, he had received his doctorate from the University of Vienna a year earlier in 1937), on September 20
th, 1938 in the course of a civil marriage at the registry office in Vienna's 2
nd district Leopoldstadt.
Her sister Paula BIZBERG, née Pauline ROSNER (1918-2011), was unable to take up her planned studies in English and Hhistory in 1937/38 and had to flee from Vienna. She was fortunate to get an affidavit by an English fellow student and was able to flee to England. She returned to Vienna after 1945, studied English at the University of Vienna and graduated with a teaching degree ("Lehramtspruefung"), without a doctorate, worked as a teacher and in 1961 she married Mietek/Moises Bizberg in Bridgeport, Connecticut U.S.A. and she joined him and his son in Mexico City, Mexico. Later she lived alternately in Vienna and Mexico and worked as a translator and in a patent attorney's office.
Her younger brother Robert "Bobby" Rosner (b. 1924 in Vienna) had to flee Austria for England as part of a Kindertransport before taking his school-leaving exam ("Matura"), but returned to Austria in 1946, studied chemistry at the University of Vienna from 1947-1950, and later worked as a chemist at
LOBA Chemie. In retirement he studied political science and history and still works intensively as a historian of science in the field of natural sciences in Vienna.
Ernestine and Hans Rosenberg had to flee Austria and managed to emigrate to Manchester, England/Great Britain in December 1938 and soon after from Liverpool/England on the
SS Samaria to the USA where they arrived in New York, NY/USA on August 8
th, 1939. They initially lived in New York, where their daughter Sandra Geraldine Rosenberg (1943-2010) was born in 1943. She interned in New York at
Memorial Hospital, New London, and
Green's Point Hospital, Brooklyn, NY, and later held positions at the
New York Infirmary for Women and Children and the Cancer Unit of
Memorial Hospital, New York, and also worked at the
Margaret Strang Clinic in New York and held a residency at
Harlem Hospital, New York.
She later moved with her family to Connecticut. She received U.S. citizenship on January 22
nd, 1944 and lived and worked as a physician in Bridgeport, Connecticut/USA, where her daughter Barbara Rosenberg (1946) and her son Henry W. Rosenberg (1951) were born. She worked at
Park City Hospital and
St. Vincent's Hospital, among others, and had a very busy private practice as one of just a few female doctors in all of Connecticut.
She was a member of the
American Medical Association and the
Connecticut Medical Association and was active in cancer research (including serving as vice president of the
Bridgeport Cancer Society).
Dr. Ernestine Rosenberg, née Rosner, died in
Bridgeport, Connecticut/USA, on September 13
th, 1962, at the age of 50, and is buried at Congregation Rodeph Sholem Cemetery in
Fairfield Connecticut/USA.
Lit.: Archive of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") MED 1937-1938, graduation registry ("Promotionsprotokoll") MED 1938, 4163; POSCH/INGRISCH/DRESSEL 2008, 461; POSCH 2009, 371; www.genteam.at; www.ancestry.de; obituary in The Bridgeport Telegram (Bridgeport, Connecticut) from September 14, 1962; interview with her brother Robert Rosner in Vienna on August 1st, 2001 (interviewer Herbert Posch and Werner Lausecker), interviews with her sister Paula Bizberg in Vienna on October 5th, 8th and 9th 2002 (interviewer: Werner Lausecker); information from her son Henry W. Rosenberg, M.D., Northampton, , 05/2021, and from her daughter Barbara Loss, 05/2021.
Herbert Posch
