Erich Ruttin

Born:	11-13-1880
Faculty:	Medical School | Medical University Vienna
Category:	Expelled teacher

Erich RUTTIN (born on November 13th, 1880 in Bielitz/Austrian Silesia [today: Bielsko-Biała/Poland], died on February 20th, 1940 in Vienna) was lecturer ('Dozent') for Otology ('Ohrenheilkunde') at the Medical School of the University of Vienna. After he had graduated from high school (k.k. Staatsgymnasium in Bielitz) in 1900 he began to study at the Medical School of the University of Vienna and graduated on December 23rd, 1905 with the academic degree 'Dr. med'. During his studies he already worked as prosector at the Department of Anatomy and as trainee at the University Clinic for Otology with Prof. Adam Politzer, from 1906 on as assistant. In 1908 Erich Ruttin was further employed by the new head of the Clinic of Otology, Prof. Viktor Urbantschitsch, and served as assistant until 1919. He was promoted to 'Privatdozent' of otology in 1913 and in 1918 was in charge of the Department of Otology at the Hospital for reservists in Lemberg/Galicia [Lwiw/Ukraine]. From 1919 to 1927 he worked as First Assistant at the University Clinic of Otorhinolaryngology with Prof. Heinrich Neumann von Héthárs. In 1922 he was made titular associate professor of otology and from 1918 on he held guest lectures at foreign universities, amongst others in Stockholm, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Jerusalem and in the USA. In 1925 he was appointed director of the outpatient department for ear diseases at the Rudolfs-Hospital in Vienna, in 1933 he also became head of the outpatient department for nose and throat diseases at the same hospital. For 1934/35 he was appointed professor at the University of Istanbul to establish a Clinic for Otorhinolaryngology, but for health reasons had to leave after a few months and went back to Vienna. Until 1938 he directed the outpatient department for throat-nose and ear diseases at the Rudolfs-Hospital in Vienna. His scientific treatises dealt most notably with the study of the labyrinth (esp. inflammations of the labyrinth), plastic surgery of the ear and differential diagnosis of intracranial complications. Under the national-socialist regime he was subjected to racial persecution, as a Jew lost his position and was thrown out of the University of Vienna on April 22nd, 1938. Erich Ruttin died on February 20th in Vienna.

Lit.: MERINSKY 1980, 212-213; NAMAL 2003; UB MedUni Wien/van Swieten Blog.

Katharina Kniefacz