Waldemar Goldschmidt
| Born: |
12-01-1886 |
| Faculty: |
Medical School | Medical University Vienna |
| Category: |
Expelled teacher |
Waldemar GOLDSCHMIDT was born on December 1st, 1886, in Bucharest [Bucuresti]/Romania and died on May 15th, 1947, in Stockholm/Sweden. He was lecturer ('Privatdozent') for surgery at the Medical School of the University of Vienna.
He was the son of Julius (Jules) Goldschmidt (director of the "Wiener Bankverein" in Bucharest, died in Vienna in 1921) and brother of Edmund Goldschmidt (emigrated to Brussels in 1939 and later on to the USA, investor, died in 1976 in New York, NY); and married the Swedish writer and translator Elsa Bjoerkman-Goldschmidt (1888-1982) in 1921.
Waldemar Goldschmidt finished high school in Bucharest and started to study medicine at the University of Vienna in 1904 (with Emil Zuckerkandl and Julius Tandler). He became a demonstrator in 1907 and later on prosector at the 1st anatomical institute. He received his doctoral degree (Dr.med./MD) in 1910. In 1913 he joined the military on the Bulgarian side during the Balkan War. During the First World War he joined the Austro-Hungarian army as a doctor and fell into war captivity in Russia. After his return to Vienna he became an assistant of Prof. Anton Eiselsberg at the 1st surgical university clinic. In 1924 Goldschmidt became "Privatdozent" for surgery at the University of Vienna and started his medical office in Vienna’s 9th district. He also became "Primarius" at the surgical department of the Rothschild-Hospital. He focused his research on the cause and therapy of cancer and became head of the Austrian Cancer Society. He was persecuted during Nazism as a Jew, lost his position, was thrown out of the university on April 22nd, 1938, and lost his venia docendi. He was also expelled from the Austrian Medical Association and lost his doctor’s office.
He and his wife were able to emigrate to Stockholm/Sweden in March 1938. He worked in a research project at the Karolinska Institutet but died, aged 61, in 1947.
Lit.: SCHREIBER in OeBL, 2012; UB MedUni Wien/van Swieten Blog, SCHREIBER 2007; 100 Jahre Österreichische Krebshilfe 2010, 46; specal thanks to the Austrian Biographical Lexicon(OeBL) for their help and information.
Katharina Kniefacz and Herbert Posch
