Fanny Knesbach (verh. Stang)

Geb. am:	15. April 1914
Fakultät:	Medizinische Fakultät | Medizin Universität Wien
Kategorie:	Vertriebene Studierende

Fanny KNESBACH (verh. STANG), geb. am 15. April 1914 in Ollynia/Polen (heimatberechtigt in Wien, Staatsbürgerschaft: Österreich), Tochter von Osias Knesbach (Kaufmann), wohnte in Wien 14 [Wien 15], Storchengasse 23/18.
Sie besuchte die experimentelle Mittelschule und anschließend das Reform-Realgymnasium in Wien. Im Wintersemester 1932/33 nahm sie das Studium an der Medizinischen Fakultät der Universität Wien auf. Sie besuchte die Anatomie-Vorlesungen bei Julius Tandler und erfuhr unter anderem hier bereits 1933 antisemitische Ausschreitungen: "One morning the academic atmosphere of Tandler's lecture room was rudely shattered. It was shortly after the start of the summer semester of 1933 and we had assembled for our morning anatomy Kolleg. […] Suddenly above the general chatter we heard a commotion from the top rows of the lecture theatre. We turned and saw a crowd of Burschenschaft-capped students. They bawled a chorus of the Horst Wessel Lied and then started to come down the aisle in two tight gangs screaming: Juda verrecke! They were hitting out at Jewish-looking students and fights started in the crowded auditorium. 
Max was sitting near the aisle and he with his black curly hair and semitic nose would be their next target. We sat there hemmed in, wondering what to do. At this moment Professor Tandler appeared. Summing up the situation at a glance he took off his white coat and threw it on the table in front of him. Even the Nazis had frozen into silence. 
'Gentlemen, unless all my students resume normal academic behaviour I shall stop all anatomy lectures this semester. You have five minutes to clear the theatre and restore order.' He withdrew. 
The largely imported Nazi groups made themselves scarce, no doubt encouraged by their medical comrades. The closure of Tandler's lectures would have meant the anatomy exams could not be held and thus the loss of half a year for Jew and Aryan alike. Such scenes never occurred again - in Tandler's lectures at any rate." (STANG 1988, 100) Sie erhielt im Jänner 1936 einen Praktikumsplatz für ein halbes Jahr an der Universitätsklinik für innere Medizin bei Prof. Eppinger. Daneben besuchte sie die wöchentlichen Treffen der Wiener medizinischen Gesellschaft. 
Fanny Knesbach war zuletzt im Wintersemester 1937/38 an der Medizinischen Fakultät im 10. Studiensemester inskribiert. Ihre letzten Vorlesungen besuchte sie im Frühjahr 1938, nach dem "Anschluss" Österreichs an das Deutsche Reich (Absolutorium ausgestellt am 3. November 1938): "When I turned up next day, nothing at first glance had changed. The lecture room was the same. There was the usual sprinkling of fraternity caps, but - yes - some indeed with superadded swastikas but many without. I noticed Heinz, our old flame, in the third row where I usually sat. I was about to join him as there was a spare seat, but when our eyes met he turned away and I saw a bright silver swastika gleaming in his lapel. […] 
Looking around for other familiar landmarks, I realized with a stab of pain that the portrait of Wagner-Jauregg had been replaced by a large photograph of Hitler. 
Professor Poetzl entered. He raised his arm in an accomplished 'Heil Hitler' salute as if he had been doing it for ages. The students jumped up in response, somewhat raggedly, with their right arms extended at various angles. 
'Heil Hitler!' came the chorus." (STANG 1988, 177)  Sie konnte ihre letzten fünf Prüfungen im Oktober 1938 absolvieren und ihr Studium am 31. Oktober 1938 noch im Rahmen einer 'Nichtarierpromotion' abschließen.  "Then at last came the day which was to put the crowning glory on our six years of study and bestow on us the doctorate of medicine of the Universitas Vindobonensis. […] 
We stood huddled in the small side room. Not for us the grandeur of the Festsaal, the rejoicing relatives, the flowers, the medieval stage decor surrounding the Dean and his acolytes. There were about a dozen of us. I think Clara and myself were the only female graduates. We all knew each other from years of attending the same round of lectures but we hardly exchanged a word. Schloss who had shared the Eppinger clerkship with me kept wondering if we would receive the degree at all. And could non-Aryans still take the oath? Rumours circulated that the Hippocratic Oath would be tacitly dropped. […] 
Suddenly the side door opened and the Dean entered followed by an official who was carrying a pile of black folders in his arms. […] We hastily formed a line. The folders were deposited on a small table and, to our amazement, the Hippocratic Oath was read in Latin from a sheet lying on top of the pile. […] 
I heard my own name and this time it was no courtesy title. I clutched my folder, shook hands and stepped back into line. We all stood to attention until the last diploma had been duly handed over and the last handshake had taken place. No music, no singing of Gaudeamus Igitur. The Dean inclined his head and both men left by the side door. 
We hardly looked at each other as we hurried down the grand staircase. With a wave of my hand I parted from my colleagues, perhaps never to meet again." (STANG 1988,192f.)  Anfang 1939 beschlossen ihre Eltern, sie und ihren Bruder Leo rasch ins Ausland zu bringen. Im Februar ging Leo mit einem illegalen Transport nach Palästina, wo er im August ankam. Fanny Knesbach nahm eine unbezahlte Stelle am Rothschild-Krankenhaus an, wo sie Präparierungen von Geweben für mikroskopische Untersuchungen übernahm. Die Wohnung musste die Familie Knesbach schon bald mit einer anderen jüdischen Familie teilen, wenig später wurde sie von einem SS-Mann "arisiert", die Einrichtung abtransportiert und beschlagnahmt. 
Am 4. Juli 1939 verließ Fanny Knesbach Österreich mit einem Zug Richtung England. In London lernte sie den Linguisten Maurice Stang kennen, der im Spanischen Bürgerkrieg gekämpft hatte. Sie heirateten 1939, nach Beginn des Zweiten Weltkriegs meldete er sich zum Wehrdienst und diente in Afrika und Italien. Nach Kriegsende erfuhr sie, dass ihre Eltern im Oktober 1941 auf der Flucht nach Palästina in Zasavica/Jugoslawien von Deutschen aufgegriffen und erschossen worden waren. 1941 übernahm Fanny Stang einen Posten als Laborassistentin bei der Firma Lucas Ltd. in Birmingham, wo sie sich besonders mit der Feststellung und Behandlung von Bleivergiftungen der Arbeiter beschäftigte. Fanny Stang wiederholte Teile ihres Medizinstudiums, um sich erneut zu qualifizieren und ihre Zulassung als praktische Ärztin in Großbritannien zu erhalten:  "Entering medical school again would mean two years of writing exam papers in a foreign language, paying fees out of our meagre savings, seeking cheap digs and economising on our few luxuries: the theatre, books and concerts. The other option would provide a decent income and perhaps a settled home – but only on the strength of a ‘temporary registration’.
‘And what happens after the war? I never want to return to Vienna. Would you want to live there?’
‘England will win and will be magnainimous to those who helped her in her hour of need,’ Maurice assured me.
‘But I shall remain a doctor with a foreign degree. I shall never feel equal!’
‘You decide and I’ll help you all I can with my fourteen years’ experience of written exams. You’ll see, correspondence courses in the subjects will give you the skill and confidence you need.’
Thus my mind was made up and I started to prepare for the ordeal. At the microscope in the office, I studied histology with the slides lent me by Dr Scott and I read Boyd’s Pathology in the evenings. […]" (STANG 1997, 111)  Da die Studiengebühren in Edinburgh niedriger waren als in London, nahm Fanny Stang an den schottischen Medizinexamen teil. Ihre klinische Praxis machte sie zunächst im Norden, ab Anfang März 1943 setzte sie sie an die Postgraduate School des Hammersmith Hospital in der Du Cane Road, London, fort. Am 20. Juli 1944 fand ihre Promotionsfeier an der Universität Glasgow statt: "Then suddenly I found myself in the Great Hall. When the ceremony started, I viewed the row of colleagues with me, mainly male. Some of them were already sporting brand new officer's uniforms. During the speeches they turned and smiled at their families and friends behind us.
I recalled my first graduation in Nazi-torn Vienna, in October 1938. My parents had rushed to the windows each time they heard a tram stop. They were afraid I might have been beaten up or seized as I came down the blood-stained great stairway of the classical facade of the university. When they saw me cross the street they waved and laughed and my brother came rushing down the stairs to meet me. In the sitting room my mother and father hugged me and I had to unfold the impressive document and translate the Latin text of the MD Vienna. This was disfigured, alas, by Nazi stamps which prohibited my practising in the great German Reich.
The speeches and the reading of the Hippocratic oath ended. I shook hands with the dignitaries, was given my scroll and returned to my two friends, for whose company I was grateful.
[…] I looked at the black Latin lettering and saw my married name in blue ink. No more German name and no more German stamps forbidding me to practise at the very moment of my graduation. It is a new beginning. On Monday I start as locum for Dr MacNamara here in Edinburgh. After six years of struggle, I am at last fully fledged to work in my profession. That will be my true graduation." (STANG 1997, 164f.)  Da nach Ende des Krieges zahlreiche männliche Ärzte aus dem Militärdienst zurückkamen, hatte sie kaum eine Chance als praktische Ärztin und wurde im öffentlichen Gesundheitswesen tätig. Maurice Stang arbeitete nach der Rückkehr aus dem Wehrdienst als Lehrer an einer secondary school und setzte seine Sprach- und Literaturstudien fort. Sie übersiedelten nach Manchester,  Fanny Stang wurde Assistant County Medical Officer in Middleton nahe Manchester. Sie wurde bei ihrer Pensionierung zum Ehrenmitglied des Institute of Public Health ernannt.  Sie starb am 29. Dezember 2008 in London. 

Lit.: freundlicher Hinweis von Esme Chandler, 2011; Fanny STANG, Fräulein Doktor, Sussex 1988; Fanny STANG, A New Beginning, London 1997; Frank BECK, Dr Fanny Stang. The last Jewish graduate of Viennese medicine, in: Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) Journal 04/2007, 11; AJR Journal 02/2009, 14; KNIEFACZ/POSCH 2017a.

Katharina Kniefacz