Edith Weisskopf (Weisskopf-Joelson)

Born:	11-29-1910
Faculty:	Medical School | Medical University Vienna
Category:	Expelled student

Dr. Edith Adele WEISSKOPF (married WEISSKOPF-JOELSON), born on November 29th, 1910 in Vienna/Austria (entitled residency ('heimatberechtigt') for Vienna/Austria, Citizenship: Austria), died in July 3rd, 1983 in Athens, Georgia/USA, daughter of Emil Weisskopf (judge, later lawyer, died 1926 in Vienna) and his wife (died 1958 in New York) lived in Vienna 1st district, Reichsratsstrasse 11, was enrolled finally in spring term 1938 in the 1st year of her studies (Leaving Certificate ('Abgangszeugnis') was issued on June 28th, 1938). Her mother always wanted to raise her only daughter to a well-educated, culturally and intellectually interested lady and took Edith Weisskopf on several trips to foreign destinations (e.g. England) since she was 14 years old. About the societal pressure to ascribe women traditional roles as married wife and mother, she wrote: "Surely I have always wanted to get married, but mostly because society demands that women should do so, because Mother and most other people would view me as a failure were I to remain single, because I wanted to appear 'normal' to Mother and others. In order to achieve this disguise of marriage, however, I must carry a suitable partner. And to Mother, that would mean only a well-educated, cultural, intellectual man." (WEISSKOPF-JOELSON 1988, 11, see also: FREIDENREICH 2002, 112) After finishing school she began to study psychology at the Philosophical School of the University of Vienna and attended lectures of Moritz Schlick, Charlotte Buehler, Egon Brunswik, Else Frenkel-Brunswik and others. In 1932 she spent one term studying maths and physics at the University of Goettingen.
In 1932 Edith Weisskopf underwent a cosmetic surgery on her nose and she believed that the fact, that she no longer 'looked Jewish' had perhaps protected her from antisemitically motivated attacks:
"I was one of the first women in the world to have my nose ‚fixed‘ by the very surgeon, Dr. Jacques Joseph of Berlin, who developed this plastic-surgery procedure. […] While my only reason for undergoing this operation was my desire to look pretty, it is ironic that I might not be alive today had I not had my nose changed from its original shape and its stereotypic Jewish curve." (WEISSKOPF-JOELSON 1988, 25, see also: FREIDENREICH 2002, 40). Edith Weisskopf finished her studies and graduated at the Philosophical School of the University of Vienna in Psychology in 1937 with the academic degree 'Dr. phil.' (dissertation: 'Wunsch und Pflicht als Funktion des Lebensalters', 1935). Subsequently she began to study at the Medical School and was enrolled finally in spring term 1938 in the 1st year of her studies (Leaving Certificate ('Abgangszeugnis') was issued on June 28th, 1938). In September 1938 Edith Weisskopf fled via Hamburg/Germany to Bergen/Norway, where she organized her emigration to the USA. She finally received the immigration permit to the USA in February and took a ship from Bergen to New York City, where she arrived in March and resumed her career as a psychologist successfully. Despite the difficult job situation for refugees she quickly found an adequate job as instructor in the Department of Psychology at Indiana University (Briarcliff College) near New York City, where she began working in autumn 1939. She had the wish to become a teacher since she had been a child, but because she had never taught before, did not speak English that well and experienced differences between 'the European' and 'the American' Psychology, she had some problems preparing her lessons:
"American psychology was so different from the psychology I had learned Vienna […]. The books described complex theoretical schemes which seemed to have been constructed for the purpose of making psychology look like an exact science rather than a tool for increasing our understanding of human beings‘ thoughts, feelings, attitudes and behaviours." (WEISSKOPF-JOELSON 1988, 27) She overcame the initial problems in teaching by visiting summer courses in psychology in 1940 and her experiences in teaching approved in her second year at Briarcliff College in 1940/41.
In New York Edith Weisskopf met psychologist Gustav Ichheiser, who was born in Poland, had also studied at the University of Vienna and had graduated in 1924 (Prof. Karl Buehler). They married in 1941 and he had strong influence on her thinking and her scientific work, although they got divorced after two years. From 1942 on Weisskopf was assistant professor at the Department of Psychology at Indiana University, from 1944 on also clinical psychologist in the mental health clinic of the Indiana State Department of Public Welfare, until she became assistant professor and then professor in the Department of Psychology at Purdue University in 1949. She was confronted with new tasks, especially research and publishing and began to study Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy. In 1950 she earned a diploma in clinical psychology from the American Board of Examiners in Professional Psychology.
On December 27th, 1951 Edith Weisskopf married her long-term partner, engineer and businessman Michael Joelson, who was born in Riga/Latvia. The marriage failed in 1961 and was finally divorced in 1972. While teaching at Purdue University, she was infected with tuberculosis and was at the Valley View Hospital for treatment from 1962 to 1964. During this time she first experienced symptoms of schizophrenia. In order to recover from the serious illness Weisskopf-Joelson took a half-time job at at St. Mary-in-the-Woods College in Terre Haute, Indiana, where she was consultant at the library and only had to give occasional lectures. Her mental state got worse increasingly and she was brought to the Pineville mental hospital for treatment after one year. She kept a diary of her mental disease, which was published posthumously in 1988 by Purdue University with the title 'Father, Have I Kept My Promise?' and with an afterword by Viktor Frankl. She wrote: "It is hoped that this book may represent one step toward this goal, that it may give the reader a glimpse of the mysterious beauty, the terror, the sadness and the healing rebirth brought into existence by the strange experience which we call madness." (WEISSKOPF-JOELSON 1988, 126)
"My life, I feel, has been a very rich one but not comfortable. It has been full of tragedies and pain, but every tragedy has contributed to further growth. This was especially true fot the one 'tragedy' through which we travelled together in this book. But only after I emerged from the flood of madness could I see new meaning in my life. I have not only studied madness, as other students of psychology have done, but also lived through it. This coexistence of knowledge and experience presents a mandate I must fulfil, that I have already partially fulfilled when attempting to teach my students about madness." (WEISSKOPF-JOELSON 1988, 129) Still in mental hospital she was offered to teach as a visiting professor in the Department of Psychology at Duke University from September 1966 on, accepted the offer and and continued her academic career. After one year she became professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Georgia in Athens, where she was retired with emeriti status in 1978. Edith Weisskopf-Joelson died on July 3rd, 1983 of cardiac arrest.
A collection of her papers is kept at the Ingram Library at University of West Georgia.

Sources:

Archives: Vienna University Archive, Philosophical School (PHIL): Nationale fall term 1929/30 until fall term 1933/34, final examination registry ('Rigorosenprotokoll') No. 12796; final examination file ('Rigorosenakt') No. 12796, dated from 1935 [Curriculum Vitae, Beurteilung der Dissertation]; Medical School (MED): Nationale fall term 1937/38 until spring term 1938; Universität Graz, Archiv für die Geschichte der Soziologie in Österreich: Österreichische Soziologinnen und Soziologen im Exil 1933 bis 1945; Collection Edith Weisskopf-Joelson (1910-1983), Annie Belle Weaver Special Collections, Irvine Sullivan Ingram Library, University of West Georgia (content of collection [pdf]); Vienna City archive/Historical Central Registration of Viennese inhabitants, March 26th, 2014. 

Katharina Kniefacz