Richard von Wiesner
| Born: |
05-30-1875 |
| Faculty: |
Medical School | Medical University Vienna |
| Category: |
Expelled teacher |
Richard von WIESNER (born on May 30
th, 1875 in Vienna, died on October 14
th, 1954 in Vienna) was an extraordinary professor for pathological anatomy at the Medical School of the University of Vienna.
He was persecuted in times of Nazism for racist reason and lost his position and was thrown out of the university on April 22
nd, 1938.
Richard von Wiesner, son of botanist Prof. Julius Wiesner (1838-1916, rector of the University of Vienna 1898/99) attended the imperial-royal Maximilian secondary school in Vienna’s 9
th district and the monastery secondary school in Kremsmuenster in Upper Austria, where he graduated in 1896,
[1] after which he studied medicine at the University of Vienna. He obtained his doctorate in 1902 and joined the pathological-anatomical institute one year later as an assistant.
[2] Meanwhile, he habilitated as a private lecturer at the University of Vienna in 1911 and advanced to the position of an unsalaried associate professor in 1917.
[3] Three years later he became prosector of the Wilhelminen-hospital.
[4] In December 1936 and effective from January 1
st, 1937, the Federal President named him prosector of the Wilhelminen-hospital in the third service class. This brought with it the removal from the office of associate professor at the University of Vienna, where Wiesner acted as a private lecturer for pathological anatomy from that point onward.
[5] At the request of the faculty, however, the Federal President made him an associate professor for pathological anatomy and at the same time conferred him with the title of full professor.
[6] The ministry gave him a teaching assignment to the extent of two hours for the academic years of 1937/38 to 1939/40.
[7]
Austria’s “Anschluss” to the German Reich temporarily ended Wiesner’s career at the Wilhelminen-hospital and the University of Vienna. According to the “Nuremberg race laws”, Wiesner was considered a "
Mischling 1. Grades" ("half-Jew"). The NSDAP-
Gauleitung (Gau head office) found him to be "born as a Jew" and baptized at the age of 14.
[8] After the suspension by the ministry of education in April 1938
[9] he was sent into retirement as prosector of the Wilhelminen-hospital as of the end of December 1938. The legal basis for this measure was §3, paragraph 1 of the career civil servant act, which stood for "racial" reasons.
[10] In accordance with §8, paragraph 1 (standing in for "unsalaried or not working full-time holders of a public office") and §3, paragraph 1 (see above), Wiesner was also "dismissed without compensation and effective immediately" from his function as unsalaried associate professor at the end of March 1940.
[11] It seems that he was able to continue working as a doctor in a private practice beginning in December 1939.
[12]
Wiesner’s whereabouts at the end of World War II are not evident in the files. In any case, the dean’s office reported that he only had been able to return to Vienna in November 1945.
[13] In July 1946 the ministry made him an honorary professor, at the behest of the faculty.
[14] He taught in this function at the University of Vienna until 1948. In that same time he also again worked in his position at the Wilhelminen-hospital.
[15]
He passed away from a severe heart condition on October 14
th, 1954.
Wiesner published important works on poliomyelitis as well as on the pathological anatomy of tuberculosis, paratyphoid fever and other infectious, especially coccal-induced diseases of the bowel.
[16] One of his most famous works is "Allgemeine Krankheitslehre" (1950).
[17]
Lit.: Federal Archives Berlin (BA) / Reichsaerzteregister; Austrian State Archive (OeStA) / Archives of the Republic (AdR) / BKA, BBV, OeStA / AdR / personal files ("Personalakt") Wiesner, OeStA / Allgemeines Veraltungsarchiv (AVA) / personal files ("Personalakt") Wiesner; Archive of the University of Vienna (UA) / Medical school (MED) / personal files ("Personalakt") MED PA 528, UA / rectorate GZ 677 ex 1937/38; TEICHL 1951; Wer ist wer 1951 new edition 1953; Hermann CHIARI, obituary, in: Die Feierliche Inauguration des Rektors der Wiener Universitaet fuer das Studienjahr 1955/56, Vienna 1956; MERINSKY 1980, 284-285; MÜHLBERGER 1993, 36; UB MedUni Wien/van Swieten Blog; BLUMESBERGER 2002, 1479; TRAGL 2007, 473.
[1] OeStA/AVA, PA, k. k. Min. f. Kultus u. Unterricht GZ 33551-1911, Curriculum vitae, October 10, 1910.
[2] Wer ist wer in Oesterreich, new edition, Vienna 1953.
[3] Cf. OeStA/AVA, PA, Min. f. i. u. k. A. GZ 26769-2/c-1938, Kurzbiographie, o. D.
[5] UA, PA, fol. 160, Unterrichtsministerium/Loebenstein an MED Dekanat, April 6, 1937.
[6] Ibid., fol. 171, Unterrichtsministerium an MED Dekanat, December 1, 1937.
[7] Ibid., fol. 165, Unterrichtsministerium/Loebenstein an MED Dekanat, October 6, 1937.
[8] Ibid., fol. 183, NSDAP-Gauleitung Wien an MED Dekanat, July 14, 1938.
[9] UA, RA GZ 677-1937/38, O.-Nr. 62, Oesterreichisches Unterrichtsministerium to rector, April 22, 1938
[10] OeStA/AdR, BKA, BBV, Der Staatskommissar beim Reichsstatthalter/Otto Waechter an Wiesner, December 15, 1938.
[11] UA, PA, fol. 203, Reichskommissar für die Wiedervereinigung Oesterreichs mit dem Deutschen Reich an Wiesner, March 30, 1940.
[12] Cf. BArch, Reichsaerzteregister.
[13] UA, PA, fol. 190, MED dean to Staatsamt fuer Volksaufklaerung (government office for public enlightenment), November 27, 1945 (concept).
[14] Ibid., fol. 194, BMU to Wiesner, July 31, 1946.
[15] Wer ist wer in Oesterreich. New edition. Vienna 1953.
[16] Hermann Chiari, obituary, in: Die Feierliche Inauguration des Rektors der Wiener Universitaet für das Studienjahr 1955/56, Vienna 1956.
[17] Teichl, Oesterreicher.
Andreas Huber (translated by Thomas Rennert)
