Horst Ehmsen

Born:	06-19-1917
Faculty:	Medical School | Medical University Vienna
Category:	Expelled student

Horst EHMSEN, born on June 19^th, 1917 in Vienna/Austria (entitled residency ("heimatberechtigt") for Kiel/Germany, citizenship 1938: Germany), son of Heinrich Ehmsen (1886-1964, German painter from the circle of the Blaue Reiter) and Hermine Ehmsen, née Schneid (1881-1949, Austrian landscape painter, graphic artist, illustrator and restorer, lived in Vienna's 9^th district, Liechtensteinstrasse 23/II. After graduating from highschool (Elisabethgymnasium in Vienna 5^th district, Rainergasse) in 1936, he began his studies at the Medical School of the University of Vienna. He was enrolled in spring term 1938 at the Medical School in the 2^nd year of his studies. He was discriminated as a so called 'Mischling 1. Grades' and could continue his studies at first - valid until revoked - also in spring term 1939. According to his father, he was of the Protestant A.B. religion, but under National Socialism rules he was discriminated against as a "Mischling 1. Grades" on account of his mother and was able to continue his studies - subject to revocation at any time - after the "Anschluss" only on a provisional basis. On August 25^th, 1939, he was drafted into the Deutsche Wehrmacht for war service and volunteered for the Western Front in December 1939, became a private in March 1940, an infantry sergeant in July 1940, and on November 1^st, 1940, he was discharged from the Wehrmacht as a "Misching 1. Grades". He completed his 4^th year during his military service and passed his last two terms in 1940/41 and with the 3^rd trimester in 1940 and the sping term in 1941 he completed his last regular year of studies at the University of Vienna. The admission to the 2^nd and 3^rd viva voce examinations, which Horst Ehmsen successfully completed in 1941, was granted by the Reich Ministry of Education in Berlin after the fact in 1942. He argued in his application that he had belonged to national associations since the age of 11, e.g., Grossdeutscher Jugendbund, Deutsche Freischar, in Vienna Oesterreichisches Jungenkorps, Deutscher Pfadfinderbund, Verein Reichsdeutscher Studenten, and that he was an above-average country hockey player, which is why he could continue to be a member of the Nationalsozialistische Reichsbund fuer Leibesuebungen even as a "Mischling 1. Grades."
However, both the Berlin Reich Ministry of Education and the Reich Ministry of the Interior refused to grant him a doctorate and a license to practice medicine in the German Reich.

In the graduation registry of the Medical School of the University of Vienna, there is no doctorate entry for Horst Ehmsen, neither in the National Socialist period until April 1945, nor thereafter until 1955. According to his medical record in the "Wiener Aerztekammer", however, he was graduated from the University of Vienna on September 28^th, 1942. He was after 1945 for more than five decades as a player, official, president and honorary president of the field hockey sports club SV Arminen in Vienna, where he continued to live and work, from 1960-1986 also as a general practitioner with his own practice in Vienna's 2^nd district, Untere Augartenstrasse 1-3. Dr. Horst Ehmsen died on October 22^nd, 2008 in Vienna and is buried at the cemetery Neustift.

Lit.: Archives of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") MED 1936-1941, Rectorate GZ 944 ex 1939/40/41, GZ 5201 ex 1940-1943, US 69 ex 1942-44, MED GZ 1115 ex 1939/40; Austrian State Archives OeStA/AdR/02-Unterricht/Kurator d. wiss. Hochsch. Wien (K. 13), OeStA/AdR/E-uReang/VVSt/VA 2422; POSCH/INGRISCH/DRESSEL 2008, 377; Verstorbenensuche Friedhöfe Wien; information from Dr. Barbara Sauer, Vienna, 04/2022

Katharina Kniefacz u. Herbert Posch