Maria Hertz (verh. Hertz-Levinson)

Born:	07-10-1916
Faculty:	Philosophical School
Category:	Expelled student

Maria HERTZ (married HERTZ-LEVINSON), born on July 10th, 1916 in Vienna/Austria (entitled residency ('heimatberechtigt') for Vienna/Austria, Citizenship: Austria), daughter of Friedrich Hertz (senior official 'Ministerialrat'), lived in Wien 4, Brahmsplatz 2, was enrolled finally in the spring term 1938 at the Philosophical School in the 3rd year of her studies and took courses in Psychology. She emigrated to Great Britain and to the USA, graduated at the University of California/Berkeley (M. A.) but couldn't reach the PhD and worked as a clinical psychologist in the USA.

Lit.: Portrait Maria HERTZ LEVINSON in POSCH/INGRISCH/DRESSEL 2008, 333. Maria HERTZ LEVINSON  - Sketch of a Portrait She could have received a Ph. D., had "life", as she put it, not put a spoke in her wheel. Born in 1916 Vienna, she registered at the University of Vienna in the first semester of 1935/1936. Her father, holder of a Ph.D. in political economy from the University of Munich, had been born to a gentile mother and a Jewish father who had converted to Christianity and been raised as a Christian. Her mother, one of the first alumnae of the Medical School of the University of Vienna, had also converted to Catholicism before her marriage. Thus, Maria Hertz grew up with a catholic’s self-conception. She chose to pursue studies in psychology and contributed her services to Charlotte Buehler’s research projects. Soon after the "Anschluss" it became clear to her however that as an assimilated Jew [Germ. orig. "Geltungsjuedin"] she would not be able to continue her studies at the University of Vienna. A mere five weeks after the "Anschluss", she left Vienna for England together with her family. However, as she had neither a work permit, nor hope to continue her studies there, she decided to go on to the United States. Due to an inheritance she had managed to take along into exile, she was able to carry on her studies and receive a master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley.  She went on to prepare for her Ph. D. by means of in-depth research and training in clinical psychology. It was during this period that she met Daniel Levinson, who would later become professor of psychology at the universities of Harvard and Yale. As graduate students, they worked together on a research project on antisemitism, later to be published to acclaim in Theodor W. Adorno’s book "The Authoritarian Personality" (1950). When her husband got his first academic position, she interrupted her studies at the age of 30 to become a mother. When, her children having grown somewhat, she finally decided to resume work on her Ph. D., her thesis was rejected. Too much time had elapsed, it was argued. Thus, not wanting to start over again, she took up clinical psychology. Three years later, her spouse was invited to work at Yale. This move was, as she pointed out, the most difficult in her life – more traumatic, she thought, than her emigration, even. At this point she was 50 years old. She left behind her circle of friends, her job, the connections she had built and the house that meant so much to her. In New Haven, Connecticut, she also suffered from a lack of professional opportunities. Eventually, after having worked in different positions as a school psychologist, she joined a research project supervised by her husband. The project was published as a book titled "Seasons of a Man's Life" (1978). In the 1960s she found a new field of activity and developed an interest as an activist in organisations dedicated to social change, most notably women’s rights.

Doris Ingrisch, Herbert Posch