Josephina Theresia Zürcher
Josephina Theresia Fallscher-Zürcher | |
|---|---|
| Born | Josephina Theresia Zürcher 1 October 1866 |
| Died | 10 July 1932 |
| Other names | Sephy |
| Citizenship | Swiss, after the marriage German |
| Alma mater | University of Zurich |
| Occupation | Medic |
Josephina Theresia Zürcher (1866–1932) was a Swiss medic known for being one of the first women to serve as a medic in the Ottoman Empire. She served as a doctor in several cities, such as Aleppo, Marash, Antakya, and Haifa.
Early life and education
[edit]She was born on 1 October 1866 as the fourth child to Chief Bedel of the ETH Zurich, Karl Joseph Eduard Zürcher, and Anna-Barbara Hirt.[1] Her parents had a close relationship with Gottfried Keller, who attended her baptism ceremony.[1] After her father became ill in 1874, a medic advised the family to move to the countryside, and the family bought a farm in Urdorf.[2] In Urdorf, her father became a goose breeder, and her mother cared for children in the summer months.[2] Her father didn't recover fully and died in 1876.[3] Being a half-orphan, she and her brother came into the care of a legal guardian who sent them to an orphanage[3] as her mother couldn't be the head of the family as a woman.[3] In the orphanage, she graduated from school at the age of fifteen.[3] After some discussions between herself, her mother, and the orphanage's authority, she was eventually allowed to enter the vocational school.[4] By 1886, she began to study medicine at the University of Zurich and was the fifth woman who registered for the state exam to become a medic in 1891.[5] However, although she was allowed to work as a medic in Switzerland, the clinics refused to employ her.[6] She went to Davos, where she was absolved from military service.[7] From December 1891 to April 1894, she was able to act as a substitute for a female medic in her practice in Bern.[8] She returned to focus on her studies and obtained her Doctorate with a dissertation on Joan d'Arc from a psychological and psychopathological point of view in 1895.[9][10] She was the 13. Swiss woman to obtain a doctorate in medicine.[10] Her doctoral advisor was the Swiss psychiatrist Auguste Forel, who also suggested the theme of the dissertation.[9]
Professional life
[edit]After graduation, she went to Dresden, where she was employed in the Gynaecology department of the Lahmann Sanatorium "White Deer" for some time.[11] It was in Dresden where she came into contact with Alfred Ilg, a Swiss advisor to the Abyssinian King Menilek who wanted to recruit Zürcher as a medic for the noblewomen of Addis Abeba.[10] Zürcher declined after she learned that Menilek would reward her services only in territory but not in money.[10] At about the same time, she received a call from the German Orientalist Johannes Lepsius,[12][13] who encouraged her to set up a clinic for the Armenians in Urfa.[12] After some negotiations, she was allowed to enter the Ottoman Empire as a doctor under the precondition that she would dress as a man for as long she was not in an exclusively female environment after she had passed Aleppo on her way to Urfa.[14]
In the Ottoman Empire
[edit]In May 1897, she left Switzerland and travelled from Trieste to Beirut on a ship of the Austrian Lloyd.[15] Over Alexandretta and Aleppo, she reached Urfa on the 3 July 1897.[15] While in a caravan from Alexandretta to Urfa, she stayed in several Kurdish villages and treated the Kurdish tribal leader Ibrahim Pasha.[16] In Urfa, she established a clinic for the Armenian Charity (later the German Oriental Mission),[12] where Armenian Abraham Attarian assisted her.[17] In the clinic, surgeries and ophthalmological treatments were performed. The treatments were usually free, but with the wealthy, terms on just remuneration were agreed upon.[18] Her stay in Urfa was cut short, as she was prohibited from continuing her work as a medic by the Ottoman authorities.[19] In March 1898, Zürcher was permitted to practice as a medic in the Vilayet of Aleppo,[19] after which she and her husband settled in Aleppo, where they established a practice.[20] She was the only European medic in the region,[21] which gave her a valuable status among the local population as well as in the European circles.[21] During a Cholera epidemic, she opened a pharmacy.[13] Shortly after, the local government official demanded renovation of the clinic's license.[13] Later, he also insisted that pharmacies be allowed to provide services with an Ottoman license.[13] After more obstacles,[13] she decided to move on.[22]
Between 1904 and 1905, she acted as a substitute for the doctor of the German Missionary hospital in Marash.[23] In 1905, she established a practice in Antakya.[24] In 1905, her husband Henry was offered employment as an accountant in the Deutsche Palästina-Bank, and she agreed to follow him to Haifa, the city of his Henry youth.[25] The decision was not easy, as her passion was her work as a doctor, and Henry's employment would mean she had to end her work in Antakya.[21] However, her salary depended on what her clients could give, how it was common for the Ottoman Empire doctors, and that Henry's employment provided the family with a calculable income, and she agreed to move to Haifa.[21]
In Palestine
[edit]In Haifa, she was a doctor for the surrounding villages and the Baháʼí Faith community.[12] In 1912, she moved to Nablus and established a private medical practice. In October 1915, her husband had to liquidate the local branch of the Deutsche Palästina-Bank in Nablus due to the outbreak of World War I.[26] Following the family's settlement in Jerusalem, Zürcher prevented the closure of the German hospital as she (contrary to the acting head doctor) had a permit from the Ottoman Authorities to act as a medic in the Syrian provinces. [27]
Later life
[edit]As her husband Henry was drafted,[26] she returned to Germany in 1917, where she was a doctor in Stuttgart.[28] She returned to the Near East between 1922 and 1930 before settling in Stuttgart for the last two years of her life.[29]
Personal life
[edit]She married Henry Fallscher in 1899[12] at the German Consulate and subsequently became a German citizen.[30] Henry was born to a German family of Swiss descent[30] in Jerusalem.[31] She gave birth to a girl in September 1901.[32] She died on the 10 July 1932 in Stuttgart.[12]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Tewarson, Heidi Thomann (2018-08-29). Die ersten Zürcher Ärztinnen: Humanitäres Engagement und wissenschaftliche Arbeit zur Zeit der Eugenik (in German). Schwabe AG. pp. 53–54. ISBN 978-3-7965-3876-6.
- ^ a b Frutiger, Uarda (1987), pp.26–27
- ^ a b c d Tewarson, Heidi Thomann (2018-08-29). p.57
- ^ Tewarson, Heidi Thomann (2018-08-29). pp.57–58
- ^ Frutiger, Uarda (1987), pp.44–45
- ^ Frutiger, Uarda (1987), p.46
- ^ Tewarson, Heidi Thomann (2018). p.62
- ^ Frutiger, Uarda (1987), pp.49–50
- ^ a b Frutiger, Uarda (1987). Ärztin im Orient auch wenn's dem Sultan nicht gefällt: Josephina Th. Zürcher (1866-1932) (in German). Schwabe. p. 51. ISBN 978-3-7965-0861-5.
- ^ a b c d Stalder, Helmut (2020). "Verkannte Visionäre". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). p. 188. ISBN 978-3-907291-21-4. Retrieved 2022-08-20.
- ^ Frutiger, Uarda (1987), pp.58–59
- ^ a b c d e f "Fallscheer-Zürcher, Josephine". hls-dhs-dss.ch (in German). Retrieved 2021-08-24.
- ^ a b c d e Stalder, Helmut (2020), p.189
- ^ Frutiger, Uarda (1987), p.61
- ^ a b Frutiger, Uarda (1987), p.64
- ^ Frutiger, Uarda (1987), pp.64–72
- ^ Frutiger, Uarda (1987), p.72
- ^ Frutiger, Uarda (1987), p.74
- ^ a b Frutiger, Uarda (1987), pp.78–79
- ^ Frutiger, Uarda (1987), p.83
- ^ a b c d Frutiger, Uarda (1987), p.85
- ^ Stalder, Helmut (2020), p.190
- ^ Frutiger, Uarda (1987), p.91
- ^ Frutiger, Uarda (1987), pp.98–99
- ^ Frutiger, Uarda (1987), p.101
- ^ a b Tewarson, Heidi Thomann (2018-08-29). pp.63–64
- ^ Frutiger, Uarda (1987), p.131
- ^ Frutiger, Uarda (1987), p.138
- ^ Frutiger, Uarda (1987), pp.149–159
- ^ a b Frutiger, Uarda (1987), p.84
- ^ Tewarson, Heidi Thomann (2018). p.66
- ^ Tewarson, Heidi Thomann (2018). p.65
