Clara Willdenow

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Clara Willdenow (8 October 1856 – 7 April 1931) was a German physician. She was one of the first German women to attain a medical degree, though because she was denied study in her own country, she earned her degree in Switzerland. Opening a private gynaecology clinic, she operated it for more than two decades. Willdenow was openly lesbian and did not attempt to hide her orientation.

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Biography

Clara Willdenow was born on 8 October 1856 in Bonn, Kingdom of Prussia. [1] Her father, Karl Willdenow is sometimes styled as a pedagogist from Berlin, [2] at others as a privy councilor from Breslau [1] and at others a curator at the University of Bonn. Her great-grandfather was the botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow. [3] She was privately educated until completing her Abitur and then enrolled in 1884 at the medical school at University of Zurich. [1] At the time, German universities refused to admit women. [4] Studying in Zürich until 1887, [1] after passing her Propaedeutic Examinations she went on to further her education at Bern, with a specialty in pediatrics. [1] [3] While she was still a student, she met Friedrich Nietzsche and belonged to his circle, which included Agnes Bluhm, Eva Corell, Meta von Salis, and Resa von Schirnhofer. [5] She was awarded a degree in 1893, [1] becoming one of the few German women granted a medical degree prior to 1900. [6]

Willdenow conducted laboratory work under Edmund Drechsel  [ de ], the noted chemist. She studied the milk protein casein and conducted research into the inorganic salts of lysine in the 1890s. [7] [8] [9] [10] In 1894, she opened a private gynaecological practice in the Seefield district of Zürich, which she operated until 1923. [3] [7] She was known for her explicit relationships with women and was likely exclusively lesbian. Between 1904 and 1909, she was the lover of Mentona Moser and then for thirty-one years had a relationship with Pauline Bindschedler. [11] [3] The word lesbian was not in common use at the time, but in describing their relationship, Moser specifically called it "lesbian love". [12]

In 1900, Willdenow and other doctors signed a petition asking the Federal Council to accept examination results for Swiss universities as prerequisites for the German examinations. [3] Though in 1899, German law changed and allowed women to participate in the medical profession, the application of the law was varied among the German states. [13] Willdenow later volunteered as a doctor in a Berlin clinic. She died on 7 April 1931 in Zürich. [7]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Creese 2004, p. 138.
  2. ↑ Schmid 2003, p. 83.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Institute for the History of Medicine 2015.
  4. ↑ Albisetti 1982, p. 104.
  5. ↑ Schmid 2003, pp. 83–84.
  6. ↑ Hoesch 1995, p. 375.
  7. 1 2 3 Creese 2004, p. 139.
  8. ↑ Forbes & Keith 1914, p. 263.
  9. ↑ Mann 1906, p. 395.
  10. ↑ Willdenow 1898, p. 523.
  11. ↑ Leidinger 2008, p. 67-68.
  12. ↑ Schnurrenberger & Winter 2002.
  13. ↑ Albisetti 1982, p. 120.

Bibliography

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